Famous landscape gardener Paul Bangay puts iconic Victorian property ‘Stonefields’ up for sale

Famous landscape gardener Paul Bangay is selling his iconic Victorian property with one of the world’s most celebrated gardens.

Legendary garden designer Paul Bangay at Stonefields, his beautiful Macedon Rangers property.

Famous landscape gardener Paul Bangay is selling his “iconic” Victorian property, boasting a Italy-inspired house and one of the world’s most celebrated gardens, with a $8m-$8.8m asking price.

The 20.23ha home named “Stonefields” is located at 20 Belty Drive, Denver, between Kyneton and Daylesford.

Surrounded by oak trees and cattle grazing fields, Stonefields features a hilltop pool and two studios separate from the main abode, one of which Bangay uses as a working studio.

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Bangay purchased the site in 2004 for $320,000, according to CoreLogic records, when it was “just an empty cow paddock”.

He built the property including walled garden sections, topiary, tall hedges and hundreds of thousands of plants.

“Lots of the paving stones came from Italy, a lot of stones came from South Australia,” Bangay said.

An aerial view of the estate.

The back yard of legendary garden designer Paul Bangay, pictured here with his Labrador Timber.

The stunning gardens.

An extract from Stonefields by the Seasons by Paul Bangay (Penguin Random House)

The house itself was inspired by an Italian hillside villa and Bangay collaborated with late interior designer Stuart Rattle on the five-bedroom home’s interior.

A “very hidden” secret door set in a bookshelf opens from a living area to the main bedroom.

Light fittings made of elk horns, collected after they were annually shed by the animals, hang in the house which is also decorated with Roman-style statues – although the sculptures will not be sold with the home.

Inside the home.

The kitchen.

One of the home’s bedrooms.

Bangay said the decision to sell Stonefields was “very hard” for himself and husband Barry, but he wanted to design another garden as his 60th birthday approached next year.

“I have got another garden in me, but they take about 10 to 15 years before they start to look good,” Bangay said.

His treasured memories of Stonefields include hosting open weekends to raise funds for the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation’s schools program.

About 8000 people attended every time, with each event raising about $250,000.

A freestanding bath.

Statues throughout the home.

Other wonderful memories are celebrating family Christmases, having 40 guests at his 50th birthday in the garden’s “lovely” woodlands area and enjoying the rose garden in summer.

“The home is a great place for entertaining, we have a lovely big terrace about the back that seats about 20 people,” Bangay said.

The 5m-long marble table sits below a grapevine-covered pergola.

On another terrace, a timber table has two large holes with tall trees growing through them.

Bangay said he named Stonefields after the many granite outcrops in the surrounding fields, making the area literally “a field of stones”.

Picturesque.

Pool with a view.

Bangay has said that the property ‘has four distinct seasons’.

It looks like something out of a fairytale.

Forbes Global Properties Australia director Michael Gibson said the property was “definitely iconic and a treasure”.

Mr Gibson said the first time he visited Stonefields, he felt like he was in another country.

“It’s like something that doesn’t exist anywhere in Australia, as much as I can tell,” Mr Gibson said.

“You could put it anywhere in the world, like Tuscany, and it would rival the best.”

He said the home was designed to take in the “breathtaking views” of the surrounding valley.

Bangay received the Medal of the Order of Australia for his service to landscape architecture in 2018 after receiving the Centenary Medal for his role in designing the AIDS Memorial Garden at the Alfred Hospital in 2001.

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