Gippsland holiday home delivers a taste of Yarragon
This Victorian bush retreat has gourmet credentials.
Unexpected encounters occur in the first moments of engaging with The Ridge House in west Gippsland. First, there’s the echidna sunning itself in the middle of the approach road. It scoots out of the way when I come to a quickfire stop, providing a moment to soak up the view across the valley to the Great Dividing Range. Then, as we pull up at the house, two colourful rosellas swoop across the garden. And we meet George. The resident guinea fowl appears from the scrub as we park, followed soon enough by owner Kristy Plumridge, armed with a basket of goodies, to introduce us to The Ridge House.
It’s well-named, nestled on a ridge above the village of Yarragon, 120km east of Melbourne. A lot of its 20ha block is virgin bush, with stands of eucalyptus, blackwood and the fabled mountain ash all around. Breaks in the trees reveal a jumble of farms that feed the region, the state and even the nation. And for her guests, Plumridge has sourced a goodly selection of that produce, including from her own property, Green Hills Farm, next door.
The cleverness of this place is how Kristy and her husband Neil have taken a long, low 1970s building with its back turned to the bush and remoulded it to make it at one with the surroundings. They bought the property in 2017 to house themselves and their two teenagers while they reinvigorated their farm.
At the same time, they modernised this dwelling, strengthening its form and bringing the outdoors in, with the judicious addition of windows and glass doors, and wrapping generous verandas and decking around three sides. Black wallabies will appear on the lawn, we’re assured, and at the property’s private lookout, a handful of wild deer scurries across the clearing below.
The house works two ways. One section focuses on couples, who get an enclave with ensuite queen bedroom, kitchen, a refectory dining table and a nook that Kevin McCloud would call a “snug”, with a corner sofa and smart TV. For large families and groups, the rest of the house comes into play, with three bedrooms, a bathroom and laundry and huge communal lounge centred around leather sofas either side of a wood-fired heater.
As it should be for a farmhouse of any vintage, the focus is the kitchen, and it lacks for little, including being roomy enough to accommodate several cooks at once, an essential when multiple couples are staying.
It would be no problem to get creative with a cookbook selection that covers everyone from Fulton to Ottolenghi, but we’re taking the fallback position of Plumridge’s optional welcome dinner. We get fresh tagliatelle topped with tomato, basil, onion, garlic and bay leaf, all grown next door. As is the salad of mixed greens: kale, broccolini, rocket and tatsoi. In the fridge is a crumble using Plumridge’s apple and rhubarb and a tub of Gippsland ice cream. We can also buy from the “pantry cellar”, stocked with Gippsland wines and gin.
For a couple, the minimum two-night stay includes breakfast provisions for one morning that can easily stretch to both. The sourdough is from a home baker, and there are local eggs, butter, milk, jam and a dish of honey from Plumridge’s hives that we drizzle over biodynamic stoneground oats.
An ethos of cosseting comfort extends everywhere around The Ridge House. It’s winter, so the bedsheets are flannelette; the cool cotton comes out in spring. There are hot chocolates and marshmallows, to be enjoyed out at the firepit. Other touches include the creation of a pair of quieter corners within the main lounge. One by a window has a welcoming armchair and reading light, while further along two easy chairs sit beside a drinks trolley bearing more Gippsland wines and gin. Reflecting its location, the decor is on the earthy side of neutral, centred around wall hangings by Brooke Steenholdt of Brightwood Blooms in Drouin, whose catchcry is “everything dried and different”. Steenholdt has adorned The Ridge House with rings of native branches, dried flowers and palm leaves dotted with stems of cotton. Within the property are two trails – stout walking staves are provided – that require escalating degrees of effort. The easy one is along an old timber tram path, a remnant of the area’s logging history, to a broad viewpoint over the valley. A longer trail zigzags down to a creek.
Plumridge is an evangelist for Gippsland produce, she and Neil nurturing grass-fed beef and intriguing garlic varieties on Green Hills Farm, and her copious pre-arrival information includes recommendations on where to eat, sip and shop. So we’re well-provisioned for night two, starting with sunset nibbles at the lookout with cheese from neighbour Rachel Needoba’s Butterfly Factory range plus a pinot by Needoba’s husband William Downie. It’s almost hard to imagine that next morning the valley below us will have disappeared, blanketed in fluffy cloud, leaving us Brigadoon-style floating in our private sunny splendour.
To-do List
DINE
Lamezleighs Cafe and Bar in Mirboo North does top-notch lunches and bakery treats, while the Yarragon Hotel raises the bar on country pub fare. However, the top destination eatery is Hogget Kitchen in Warragul, for refined degustation of up to five courses backed by a long Victorian-only wine list.
EXPLORE
Drive in any direction and you’ll be following rolling, winding country lanes through green pastureland and into dark forests. The Grand Ridge Road is the star, but only half its 132km is sealed.
WALK
Mount Worth State Park is the place for trails among giant mountain ash, and the Lyrebird Forest Walk near Mirboo North is a minor treasure.
SHOP
Yarragon stocks local cheese and wine (Gippsland Food & Wine), and beautiful roasted coffee (The Shot House), while near Trafalgar, the Spud Shed has a dazzling array of potatoes, other veggies and gourmet items. The best pies and feather-light sponges are at Thorpdale Bakery. Look out for seasonal farm gates.
Essentials
The Ridge House is in the Strzelecki Ranges, 6km south of Yarragon in west Gippsland. From $330 a night for couples (plus $120 cleaning fee); extra guests $75 a night; minimum stay two nights. The welcome dinner is $35 a head.
Jeremy Bourke was a guest of The Ridge House.
To join the conversation, please log in. Don't have an account? Register
Join the conversation, you are commenting as Logout