Long a magnet for Sydneysiders hankering after the peace and quiet associated with rural living, the NSW Southern Highlands has not lost its popularity across the spectrum of real estate buyers, from downsizers to families and loved-up couples.
In the two years since celebrity hairdresser Joh Bailey and his husband, champion horseman Michael Christie, have resided at their NSW Southern Highlands property Wideacre, much has been done to transform the 24ha estate from what was once an old prayer hall into a luxurious rural retreat for the couple, their guests and their 25 horses – some of which are former thoroughbred racehorses.
“I have decorated it in an upstate New York style; it’s like Ralph Lauren meets the White House. But it is a farmhouse and we don’t want it to get too grand,” says Bailey, who has tended the locks of the late Princess Diana as well as Miranda Kerr and Linda Evangelista.
Despite the cottage looking as though a phalanx of professional designers have swept through its living areas, Bailey points out that he himself has decorated all the rooms, which overlook fields as well as orchards of fig and cherry trees as well as kiwi fruit vines.
“It is a bit English country grand but we also like it to be a bit more American,” he says. “We don’t like it too shabby, like England. We like it more navy and white, like America.”
He estimates it will be another two years before the project is fully finished, declaring “This is my forever home. I do not like renovating but Michael loves it.”
The rural hamlet of Sutton Forest south of Sydney has long attracted those who enjoy four distinct seasons as well as vast tracts of open space. It has attracted celebrity couples such as Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban and Collette Dinnigan and husband Bradley Cocks, and the latter has successfully transformed himself into a real estate agent with Di Jones Bowral. Tennis ace John Alexander has been a resident for years but is in the process of downsizing from 100 acres to a smaller lot.
“Celebrities love the Southern Highlands because of its proximity to Sydney, but also because it feels remote. The best part is they can wander around and be left alone; there’s a feeling of privacy,” says Bailey, who manages a busy upmarket salon in nearby Bowral.
On the commercial side, the Southern Highlands is also a savvy real estate earner if you can choose the right locale and buy at the right price.
The couple’s 25 horses, including eight-year-old Bailey, a 17-hand retired racehorse (racing name: Golden Boy) who has just snared a prize in Racing NSW’s EquiMillion equestrian event for rehoming racehorses, are well cared for by an onsite stable manager. Wideacre’s stables for nine horses, post and rail fencing and outdoor arena are now complete, as is a large two-acre lake and an impressive gated entryway into the farm.
But the couple are still labouring away on the property’s homestead, converting it into a luxe home. Christie imported a large double gable window from Egypt, and installed new windows and doors as well as new flooring, bathrooms and a kitchen, as well as strategically placed fireplaces throughout.
The pair are also hoping to add a second storey, subject to council approval, and estimate they will spend about $1.5 million upgrading the house alone. They have forked out another $40,000 putting in advanced trees, but Christie has cleverly sold off a lot of the orchard’s ageing apple trees. He says there is a big market for older fruit trees, which are snapped up by locals.
They hope to convert an existing derelict cottage into a summer house, and add a heated pool as well as a guest house with a pond outside.
Christie spends half his day on the property and the other half with the horses. “What I love is the old trees,” he says. “It takes a lifetime to get to that size – that’s what interests me.
“The property has good bones. We got it at a really good price. The house was unlivable – the newspaper on the walls dates back to 1875.”
Meanwhile, Bailey continues to run his salons, including in Bowral, where he has long talked of expanding given that business is so good.
In Sydney’s Double Bay he has launched a spin-off of his Joh Bailey salon called Joh. It’s a new concept salon inspired by Neil Perry’s Next Door spin off from the highly successful Margaret restaurant, also in Double Bay.
Joh represents an innovative approach to hair in a modern, fresher environment compared with the flagship salon. The hair styling, extensions, barber shop and colouring offered has an edge to service its younger clientele. The spin-off is described as younger and cooler and is already appealing to scores of local millennials, the next generation of Bailey’s existing client base.