Holiday at home with Collette Dinnigan
Collette Dinnigan is tapping into the desire for sophisticated, curated and memorable travel experiences in our own backyard. And, yes, the tours include lunch at her place.
A lambent light brightens the Clyde River on a recent afternoon. Here, on a wooden jetty in the pristine New South Wales South Coast region, oyster farmer Ewan McAsh is preparing his briny treasures for two elated onlookers. “Sampling oysters by the river, drinking Champagne and enjoying a bit of caviar as the sun sets – don’t you think, gorgeous?” says Collette Dinnigan, addressing her husband, Bradley Cocks. On returning to this idyllic locale from Italy last year, the couple have been immersed in its epicurean delights and Arcadian charms. Typical pursuits include breaking bread with food purveyors, catching lobsters with spearfishing champions and riding horses at a nearby equestrian park.
Dinnigan has engaged in a flurry of creative projects since unspooling her fashion atelier eight years ago. The trailblazer has penned a memoir, collaborated on a retrospective of her romantic designs and lent her imprimatur to childrenswear, wallpaper, linen and spectacles. Switching to interior design, she confected several exceptional residences in Sydney and spruced up the penthouses at Bannisters by the Sea in Mollymook. Flitting to Europe for an extended period, the couple reimagined an 18th-century apartment in Rome and a crumbling 500-year-old farmhouse in Puglia complete with its own olive grove.
The silk thread that connects all of Dinnigan’s forays is her penchant for insouciant style. Everything she touches is decidedly un-Midas, unstuffy and cool. The Italians call it sprezzatura and, with her aura of high bohemian glamour, Dinnigan has it in spades. Now she’s at it again. Today’s visit to the Clyde River is a dress rehearsal for a series of travel experiences the pair is curating. At a time when countless Australians are seeking world-class excursions in their own backyard, Dinnigan and Cocks have pivoted to being high-end tour operators. Their beat is the blissful South Coast and the bucolic Southern Highlands of NSW, where they live with their two children, Estella, 16, and Hunter, eight.
The three-day getaways Dinnigan has designed are a slice of her soignée life. “Our experiences are intimate, relaxed and authentic,” she says. “They’re about our world and our friends and we’re inviting people into our homes.” For those who appreciate travelling in a privacy bubble, each outing will be limited to a coterie of guests. First up is the April experience centred around the seaside town of Milton. Gastronomic escapades include collecting lobster, abalone and sea urchin with spearfishing aces Ian and Lara Puckeridge, and learning how to make cheese with a local producer.
Back at the duo’s Milton home, a picturesque property with alpacas, horses and beehives, guests will partake in a cooking lesson with chef Guillaume Brahimi, be photographed by in-demand lensman Hugh Stewart, and glean insights from Dinnigan on how to set a table with flair; she even has her own collection of hand-thrown dinnerware from Italy. A succession of scintillating meals will follow. “I find it so interesting when you’re with a small group of people, hearing their stories and life experiences,” says Dinnigan. Adds Cocks, “I hope we attract like-minded types.”
In October, they will host a writers’ retreat in Bowral. Attendees will be able to seek the sage advice of two acclaimed creatives: screenwriter Fiona Seres (television drama series Tangle) and television producer Imogen Banks (comedy-drama Offspring). “You would come with a project or a manuscript and our experts will help you develop it for a network or streaming service,” explains Dinnigan. It, too, will be garlanded with activities, including nature walks and bread-making. “Each one has a creative, culinary and sustainability element – that’s our ethos.”
Another experience will unfold in the Southern Highlands in November. Dinnigan and Cocks are friendly with billionaire Terry Snow, owner of spectacular equestrian centre Willinga Park. “It’s on more than a thousand hectares of bush and we could go trail-riding through there,” says Dinnigan. “It’s not really open to the public and they have the most amazing botanical gardens and sculpture garden.”
Guests will be accommodated at a nearby hotel, but the couple’s local home is the epicentre once more. Activities will include a life-drawing lesson with artist Luke Sciberras, and convivial dinners set around roaring fires. But it’s not a bootcamp. “Guests can do as much or as little as they want to,” she adds.
The couple explain that their Italian chapter planted the seed for this new venture. In Italy, they travelled from Piedmont in the north to Puglia in the south, eating standout meals and mingling with fascinating characters.
“Before you would go somewhere because it was an amazing hotel, but that’s not enough any more,” says Cocks, who once helmed a luxury hotel consultancy. “I travelled the world for eight years visiting leading hotels and after a while I was like ‘It’s a beautiful room but what else can you offer?’ Travel has to have more substance now – it has to be relevant to your lifestyle.”
“It’s about slowing down, savouring the moment,” his partner continues. “It’s about sharing stories, meeting people at the top of their game, and walking away with great memories.” Dinnigan has stitched together these expeditions as lovingly as one of the frocks she might have shown on the Paris runways. Much like her signature fashion designs, with their elaborate lacing and beading, the outings will flow with ease. “It will seem so breezy for everybody who comes along, but they will have no idea,” she says. “Which is what I’ve always said about my business and everything I try to do. It has to look effortless but behind the scenes there’s been a lot of planning.”
If all goes well, the couple imagine creating additional tours. “Perhaps we could go to the Kimberley or we do one at our masseria in Puglia,” says Dinnigan. “It could be during olive-crating time so people can learn how to make their own olive oil. Or in summer when tomatoes are on, or porcini season, or artichoke season.” She pauses. “When people feel comfortable travelling again, that is. Maybe I’m very optimistic.”
The autumn experience is April 21-23; the writers’ retreat is on October 6-8; a spring experience will be on November 17-19. See here for pricing, itineraries and booking details.