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.
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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
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
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
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 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
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
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
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
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
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
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 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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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 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
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
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
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 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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