Top 25 homes with the best backyards and gardens in Victoria | Full list

Boasting private beaches, golf courses, vineyards, resorts and seriously lush gardens, these yards are sure to make you green with envy.

This private beach in Sunday Creek – created by Alex and Nicole Greco, who are pictured with their twin daughters, Mia and Thalia – features in one of Victoria’s best backyards. Picture: Alex Coppel

Victoria’s best backyards are sure to make you green with envy, boasting private beaches, golf courses, vineyards, playgrounds, cricket pitches and resorts.

A go-kart track, a deck overlooking the Mornington Racecourse, on-site waterfalls and a private lake have also catapulted homes on to the list, alongside some seriously lush gardens.

While a typical yard was shrinking before Covid hit, the feature had since shot back up househunters’ wishlists, according to REA executive manager of economic research Cameron Kusher.

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“Since Covid, I think people have been putting a lot more value on space, and backyards have become a lot more popular,” he said.

Mr Kusher said it was hard to put a dollar value on how much a backyard added to the price of a property, but it was clear people were willing to pay a premium for space.

“If we look at what types (of properties) have grown in price the fastest, they’ve been larger properties and regional properties where you do tend to get larger blocks of land,” he said.

Selling Houses Australia’s landscape expert Dennis Scott said while outdoor kitchens and living zones, pools, edible gardens, kid-friendly areas and fire pit zones were increasingly boosting suburban yards, having the best lawn in the street was just as important.

“The first image someone has of your property is from the outside,” he said. “So if they don’t think it’s aesthetically pleasing from the outside, it’s going to be hard to get them to want to go inside.”

Dennis Scott will join At Home magazine from November 13, with his first column revealing how to grow a lush lawn that will give your neighbours grass envy.

1. Backyard Beach, Sunday Creek

Last sold for $1.7m in December 2020

The Sunday Creek home unsurprisingly made a splash when it was on the market. Picture: Alex Coppel

Another view of the man-made resort-style lagoon and beach. Picture: Alex Coppel

This central Victorian home is at least an hour and a half from the ocean – so former owners Alex and Nicole Greco took matters into their own hands by building a beach in the backyard. The swell addition – containing a resort-style pool, sand, a waterfall and a rock feature – propelled the property to a record sale for the region last year.

2. Morning Star, Mt Eliza

Last sold for $30.66m in June 2020

Morning Star, Mt Eliza, boasts lush gardens …

… and historic vineyards.

Award-winning gardens comprising 75,000 rose bushes, a helipad and a 2ha vineyard – reputedly containing grapes brought over from France by Franciscan friars – feature on Morning Star’s 63ha beachfront grounds. The picturesque property featured in 2012 film Kath and Kimderella, has hosted Jimmy Barnes and INXS gigs, and now belongs to My Chemist Retail Group co-owner Mario Verrocchi.

3. Private Golf Course, Rye

Last sold for $1.85m in May 2020

Bruce Burns with son Matthew at golf course they built at his former Rye home. Picture: Nicki Connolly

Two holes and three bunkers make up the course.

A private golf course with two holes and three bunkers is a highlight of this 5674sq m slice of Rye. Former owner Bruce Burns and son Matthew transported an old green from the nearby Dunes Golf Links in 500 pieces, requiring “five ute trips”, and laid it out by hand to create the course among a thriving garden of indigenous foliage and fruit trees.

4. Springfield Meets Maccas, Darley

Value not known

Maggie Brennan and daughter Murphy, 3, have a second-hand McDonald’s playground in their backyard in Darley. Picture: Aaron Francis

A Simpsons mural, basketball and downball courts, and a skate park are also part of the fun space. Picture: Aaron Francis

Maggie and Kieran Brennan’s backyard is fun for big kids as well as small ones. It features a second-hand McDonald’s playground the cool parents of Murphy, 3, and Billie, 1, bought on eBay for $5000, a skate park, a basketball hoop, a downball court, and a Simpsons theme. The latter is on show via a mural of the TV family’s house, a life-size Marge statue sourced from Facebook Marketplace and Duff beer stools.

READ MORE ABOUT THIS BRILLIANT BACKYARD BELOW

5. Ard Rudah, Mt Macedon

Last listed for $5.75m-$6.35m

Ard Rudah’s verdant surrounds.

Botanical Gardens designer Baron von Mueller crafted the grounds.

The verdant garden at this 2.4ha landmark property – which was once home to an aide of Winston Churchill – was designed by the man responsible for creating Melbourne’s Botanical Gardens, Baron von Mueller. The grounds are now recognised by the National Trust for their historic significance and have featured in Open Gardens Victoria. They feature ponds, manicured hedges, towering trees, a tennis court with a pavilion designed by Paul Bangay, orchards, and a tiled alfresco zone.

6. Harkaway Raceway, Harkaway

Last sold for $9m in December 2019

A go-kart track, helipad, tennis court and pool feature on the Harkaway property.

A private resort.

Race car driver Max Twigg indulged in his love of the sport by incorporating a go-kart track into this Tuscan-style estate, on top of a pool and spa, a tennis court, an ornamental lake and a designated helicopter landing space. V8 Supercar driver David Reynolds held the 19.5-second lap record on the track.

7. Sports Lover’s Paradise No. 1, Connewarre

Last sold $1.92m in February 2020

Richard Macafee and daughters Alex, 21, and Eliza, 17, on their backyard cricket pitch. Picture: Glenn Ferguson

A footy oval and a helipad are also part of the package.

With an AFL footy field, a cricket pitch, a golf driving range and a pool, this property in Geelong’s southeast is primed for creating the ultimate sports all-rounder. A helipad completes the property, where owners of 15 years the Macafee family held regular goal kicking contests and next-level backyard cricket games.

8. Kings’ Garden, Toorak

Last sold for $32m in March 2021

The Kings bought and knocked down a house next to theirs to build an impressive garden.

The pool is pretty gorgeous, too.

Digital entrepreneur Guy King and wife Liz paid $7.3m for a property next to their Toorak home, demolished a house and tennis court on it, and built a huge walled vegetable garden and fruit orchard to a design by landscape architect Paul Bangay. A pavilion also features in what may be Melbourne’s most expensive suburban garden. “My wife comes from a family of mad gardeners,” Mr King explained. A pool and a floodlit tennis court also form part of the expansive yard.

9. Bali Resort, Research

Last sold just above $2.5m in October 2021

Anyone getting Bali vibes?

The man who sold the property last month “spent about half a million dollars on landscaping”

The Bali-loving former owner who created this private resort brought in mature plants by the truckload to craft the grounds, while also putting in a pool. “He would have spent about half a million dollars on landscaping,” Jellis Craig agent Aaron Yeats said. An alfresco terrace you’d expect to find in a Bali villa and an outdoor bathtub also feature on the 426sq m block.

10. Private Surf Break, Ventnor

Last sold for $8.15m in August 2020

The dreamy Phillip Island property.

The property features its own surf break.

A private beachfront with its own surf break, panoramic ocean views and a restored 1906 San Remo Church make the surrounds of this dreamy Phillip Island estate one of a kind. Spanning 33.76ha, there’s also a tennis court, dams and fenced paddocks.

11. Coppin Grove Vineyard, Hawthorn

Last sold for $11m in November, 2017

A vineyard with 1000 vines features in this inner-city backyard.

Former owner Michael Cohn pictured at the super rare property. Picture: Mark Stewart

A fully fledged vineyard with 1000 vines, ranging from pinot noir to chardonnay, is set between the backdoor and the Yarra River at the bottom of this home’s garden. And in addition to a top drop that’s featured in top restaurants around Melbourne, the 8174sq m property still has the space for a horse or an Olympic-sized pool if desired.

12. Sports Lover’s Paradise No. 2, Mt Martha

Last sold for $1.281m in June 2017

Adrian Raftery, with wife Kylie and kids Hamish, 7 and Zoe, 4, has made a cracking backyard. Picture: Nicki Connolly

If you’re not into cricket, why not kick the soccer ball or footy around? Picture: Nicki Connolly

Doting dad Adrian Raftery created a cracking cricket pitch and soccer field on his 6070sq m property to “encourage my kids to move from screen time to green time”. He even constructed his own a roller from materials from Bunnings to keep the cricket pitch flat – “important when you may have the next Ricky Ponting or Ellyse Perry playing on it,” he said.

13. Multi-millionaire’s Playground, Balwyn North

Last sold for $7.3m in May 2019

The backyard resort. Picture: Jason Edwards

The white backyard “curl room” featuring a jacuzzi, with the private playground in the background. Picture: Jason Edwards

With two pools, a “vogue curl room” featuring a jacuzzi, daybeds and alfresco zones, this multi-millionaire’s playground has serious resort vibes. There’s also a playground to entertain the kids, and full-height retractable doors that blur the indoor-outdoor boundaries.

14. Better Than The Birdcage, Mornington

Last listed for $2.6m-$2.7m in February 2021

Sue and Nick Hassett’s back deck is super close to the action at Mornington Racecourse. The house is for sale. Picture: Josie Hayden

The house backs right on to the track.

Horse racing aficionados Nick and Sue Hassett can watch the Mornington Racecourse’s 18 annual meetings from their backyard, where a huge elevated deck is “a lot closer to the action than any of the grandstands on the track”. A giant chessboard, a barn-style studio, an orchard and vegie patch, a chicken pen, a fire pit and a playground also feature on the 1.28ha block.

15. Waterfall Wonderland, Beech Forest

For sale for $2.15m-$2.365m

Whoever buys this Otways home will be able to chase waterfalls in their backyard.

A platypus colony also lives on the grounds.

Everybody loves a backyard water feature, but it’s hard to imagine a more impressive display than multiple waterfalls and even a platypus colony living on your property. With the Little Aire Creek that feeds several waterfalls at a popular nearby tourist spot winding through this 125ha estate, the garden really is the great outdoors.

16. Adventure Playground, Drysdale

Last sold for $1.33m in March 2021

Daniel and Crystal Fear’s six kids – Summer, 3, Piper, 9, Abel, 6, Dotti, 5, and Chase, 12 – have loads of fun in their exclusive backyard playground. Picture: Glenn Ferguson

The family sourced the equipment from the nearby Drysdale Primary School.

There’s no need to take the kids to the local park if you live at this home, which boasts slides, climbing structures, a play boat, a treehouse, a cubby and a concrete basketball area. Former owners Daniel and Crystal Fear gained most of the play equipment when the nearby Drysdale Primary School was looking to upgrade, and their six children have loved it.

17. Balnagowan, Rosebrook

Last sold for $780,000 in January 2020

The Rosebrook home's wow-factor garden.

The house is flanked by greenery.

Manicured hedges, arbours, statues and a water feature form part of the elaborate garden flanking Victorian home Balnagowan, near Port Fairy. The 1.42ha oasis was crafted by the owners who sold the property in 2020, after a decade of ownership.

18. Mini Golf Home, Greenvale

Last sold for $1.83m in October 2020

Mini golf, anyone?

The 18-hole course sits alongside a tennis court, basketball hoop and more.

A full 18-hole mini golf is a standout feature of this home’s above-par yard. The landscaped grounds also contain a tennis court with a basketball hoop, fruit trees and vegetable garden beds, a pond and enough lawn for a game of backyard cricket.

19. 8 Yard House, Fitzroy North

Value not known

8 Yard House took out the 2021 Houses Award’s best garden or landscape category. Picture: Rory Gardiner

The Fitzroy North home features a courtyard that’s “reinterpreted as eight outdoor rooms”. Picture: Rory Gardiner

The winner of the 2021 Houses Awards “best garden or landscape” category, 8 Yard House by Studio Bright and Peachy Green was praised by jurors for building on “centuries’ old traditions of spaces for living outside”. They noted the courtyard was “reinterpreted as eight outdoor rooms, which punctuate a dense house across a double-fronted lot in an inner-urban area of Melbourne”.

20. Lake Leppitt, Pakenham

Last sold for $4.9m in July 2021

A man-made lake is part of the property.

An idyllic spot on a sunny day.

The impressive resort-style home overlooking a man-made lake holds the record for Pakenham’s most expensive residential sale. Its 9ha Leppitt Rd block features extensive park-like surrounds to wander, private access to the Toomuc Creek and seven paddocks for animals to roam.

21. Fairytale Garden, Sassafras

For sale for $6.8m-$7.4m

The enchanted Sassafras grounds.

Straight out of a fairytale.

This “palace in the sky” has the Dandenong Ranges in its backyard, but its own enchanting garden boasts towering trees with fairy lights and plenty of perfumed flowers. Statues of Alice in Wonderland, an outdoor entertaining area with city views and a pool enhance the romantic offering.

22. Succulent Delight, Narre Warren North

Value not known

The Narre Warren backyard features 10,000-odd plants grown from seeds or cuttings. Picture: Lawrence Pinder

Green thumb owners Michele and Attila Kapitany. Picture: Lawrence Pinder

A colourful sea of succulents stretches across Attila and Michele Kapitany’s property. Most of the 10,000-odd plants were grown from seeds or cuttings raised by the couple, according to the Open Gardens Victoria website, which describes the 4000sq m grounds as featuring “architectural agaves, aloes and yuccas amid colourful ground-covering succulents and Australian bottle trees in a series of terraced garden rooms”.

23. The Garden Gallery, Hawthorn

Last sold for $16,249,999 in March 2018

An inner-city oasis.

Former owners Kathleen Cator created the gardens. Picture: Wayne Taylor

An award-winning tandem overhaul of this landmark home’s landscaping and architecture transformed it into a living gallery, where every window takes in a different array of botanic specimens. Attracting rave reviews during Open Gardens Victoria events, it features rare bottle trees, rooftop gardens, arbours and a tropical pool backdrop. No wonder the psychologist who curated the gardens for two decades regularly opened it up to clients seeking a peaceful place to meditate.

24. Tropic Thunderbox, Mt Evelyn

Last sold for $712,000 in January 2019

Steve and Jay Filliponi created the colourful Mt Evelyn yard. Picture: Nicki Connolly

A thunderbox brought practicality and fun. Picture: Nicki Connolly

With a Thai-style bar, sculptures of iconic Aussie animals from crocodiles to emus and even a thunderbox, this might be one of the most bogan backyards ever. The 1260sq m property’s unique rear end is heavily recycled, with its former owner and creator sourcing most of the materials from his job in housing demolition – and adding the outdoor dunny to save having to clean up after guests traipsing inside.

25. Tower House, Alphington

Value not known

Tower House’s gardens bring the neighbourhood together. Picture: Peter Bennetts

Neighbours can use the garden “as a short cut and grab a few veggies on the way through”, according to architects Austin Maynard. Picture: Peter Bennetts

The grounds of this inner-city home were designed to bring the local community together. The front yard is “a communal vegetable patch”, with neighbours invited to “help themselves and, if they wish, do a little gardening”, according to architects Austin Maynard. “With streets on both sides of Tower House, neighbours can use the garden as a short cut and grab a few veggies on the way through,” the firm’s website states.

Source of prices: CoreLogic

A PLAYFUL PARADISE

Move over, Simpsons!

Maggie and Kieran Brennan’s Darley backyard is a McHappy place.

Since buying their family home in the Bacchus Marsh suburb three years ago, the fun parents of Murphy, 3, and Billie, 1, have transformed the “completely bare” grounds into a playful paradise for the young and young at heart.

They started by buying a second-hand McDonald’s playground off eBay for $5000 – a bargain given they cost $40,000 brand new, Ms Brennan said.

“We bought it for our daughter, Murphy, for her first birthday. McDonald’s didn’t need it anymore,” she said.

“It took us a bit of time for my husband and his dad to put it together (and) make sure it was all safe.

“Murphy was too little at the start and a bit scared to climb up it, so we'd be the ones having fun on it, after a few drinks. But she loves it now.”

The McDonald’s playground came from eBay and Marge, from Facebook Marketplace. Picture: Aaron Francis

The couple went on to add a basketball hoop, a downball court and – most impressive of all – their own skate park.

Creating the latter involved pouring a 25x12m slab of concrete and buying a “flatpack skate park” from Ashley Wild Ramps in Queensland for about $10,000.

The next step was bringing a taste of Springfield to regional Victoria.

“We found a Marge Simpsons statue on Facebook Marketplace and once we started building the skate park, we figured we might as well do a big Simpsons mural next to it on a shed,” Ms Brennan said.

And the Brennans not done yet – they plan to “add Bart and Homer” to the mural and have another painted of Moe’s Tavern, to match their Duff Beer stools.

“Eventually, we want a motorbike track and a pool,” she added.

“We try to say it’s for the kids, but it’s for us as well. We love being outside.”

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Originally published as Top 25 homes with the best backyards and gardens in Victoria | Full list