Flametrees, where cooking club the ‘Sorcerers’ have whipped up a storm, goes on the market

There’s something ethereal about the serenity of Flametrees, the Italianesqe property on the edge of NSW’s Jamberoo Valley, but it’s the kitchen where magic happens. And now it’s for sale.

174 Clover Hill Rd at Jamberoo is expected to sell for between $6.5m and $7m.

It is a home loved for its gardens and serenity.

Brendon and Alese Bovill had been looking for a home on the NSW south coast for several years to escape the hustle and bustle of Sydney, one that offered a total lifestyle change where they could also entertain.

It wasn’t until they spotted Flametrees at Jamberoo that they knew they had finally found it.

“There were three things that blew us away that were not on our list: the views, the kitchen and the challenge to create a new garden,” Alese says.

Originally built by acclaimed chef Elise Pascoe, cooking is very much at the heart of the home. The kitchen in the open-plan living space hides a chef’s kitchen and butler's pantry where Pascoe operated her international cooking school.

Brendon and Alese Bovill at their Jamberoo home.

As a keen home cook, it’s a space Alese loves, thanks to its stainless steel benchtops, multiple cooking and preparation zones, high-end Miele and Gaggenau ovens and cooktops, and the AGA cooker she has nicknamed Black Beauty.

Alese even established a cooking club, called The Sorcerers, with her close friends.

“We have lots of fun creating magic food – mostly with great success,” she says.

“I love to cook and entertain and relax with family and friends. So, we like to get some fresh seafood, come home and have a long table lunch either inside or outside the variety of places we can eat in the garden.”

The property has an Italian-inspired feel to it.

Brendan says: “There’s no industrial sounds, or passing trucks or people. There’s none of that, it is just such quiet peace. The sound of silence, it’s a magnificent sound.”

The four-bedroom home has a Tuscan flair; the dual-winged yellow property is wrapped around a central courtyard which is perfect for entertaining. Sitting 300m above sea level on 9.71ha of land at the edge of a subtropical rainforest, the property captures sweeping views of the valley hills and ocean below.

“It’s very easy to sit back and just enjoy that, and we spend most mornings doing just that,” he says.

Views from the property are unsurpassed.

While quiet and away from it all, Brendon says the property is certainly not isolated – a short drive to Jamberoo Village and the coastal town of Kiama.

The home’s Italian-inspired design includes the best of rural luxury, with 2.7m-high ceilings and floors of limestone, hardwood, and a pure wool carpet in the principal bedroom.

The Bovills’ children and grandchildren have adored the open space for games and its 15m-long solar-heated pool, completed with a fully self-contained pool house which has a bathroom and kitchenette.

A view from the long dining room.

After many fabulous years at the property, the Bovills want to downsize. The home is on the market with South Coast Prestige Properties principal Craig Higbid and agent Emma Higbid, and has a price guide of $6.5m to $7m.

Alese says she will be sad to part with her award-winning gardens, which recently achieved the district first prize for a garden over half an acre. Not only planting visually stunning blooms such as roses along the private path she created, the kitchen is also stocked with fresh produce from the raised vegetable garden beds and the citrus grove. Chickens are kept on the property to supply fresh eggs.

The garden and its surrounds have won local awards.

“We’ve got beautiful basalt soil … and here, halfway up the escarpment, we have a lovely microclimate,” Alese says.

“I’ve reduced the number of garden beds and introduced mass planting, hedging and shaping to attract small birds.”

They are now looking forward to moving into their nearby “twilight cottage”, but will miss the birds, and views and silence.