Rustic charmer: The Barn in Daylesford, Victoria
When it comes to decor, anything’s possible in this delightfully eclectic property in Victoria.
It may be hard to envisage how a pair of old metal car ramps could look right at home on a lounge room table. Or how an ageing wooden sand sieve might seem like a piece of art once it’s hung on a wall.
But when it comes to decor, anything’s possible in The Barn, a delightfully eclectic property bursting with vintage style near the heart of Daylesford. It is a perfect match for the historic tempo of this popular Victorian spa town.
Built in 1860, when Daylesford was gripped with gold rush fever, the dirt-floored wooden barn once housed horses. These days, reclad and sporting a heated concrete floor, the property has been transformed into cosy accommodation for up to eight people.
From the moment you enter The Barn you’re immersed in its rustic ambience. Soaring 7m-high timber-panelled ceilings and hessian-lined walls create a honeyed hue, the warm tones accentuated by the heat of the kitchen’s gleaming red AGA cooker and the dancing flames of the lounge room’s gas fire, encased in what appears to be an oversized cast iron fireplace reaching to the roof.
It’s a striking feature that reflects the stylish eye of The Barn’s owners, Theresa Albioli and Tony De Marco, whose company, The Houses Daylesford, offers more than 60 holiday rental options in the area, including 11 homes owned and refurbished by the couple.
When I ask the gregarious pair about the hearth’s provenance, they smile broadly. For while the fireplace may look like metal, it was built from fibreboard and treated with a mixture of paints to create an aged iron-like patina.
Old or new, it’s the perfect centrepiece for the lounge room, a large space filled with cosy vintage leather lounges and chairs, a long wooden church pew, metal standard lamps and side tables topped with jugs of garden leaves, pots of snake plants, a Javanese-style bust — and car ramps.
Albioli and DeMarco describe themselves as avid collectors. “Reuse and retain, that’s our philosophy,” Albioli declares, while De Marco adds: “We’re not like other people. We don’t watch TV at night — we’re on Gumtree looking for great furniture to buy.”
Albioli quickly rattles off the source of objects throughout the home, many collected from old properties. Either side of the fireplace are large 400-year-old paned windows from a French chateau, one of the bathrooms sports a metal shower tray from a jail and The Barn’s two wooden staircases are from Melbourne and Geelong Grammar schools.
The stairs in the lounge room lead to the main bedroom in the loft, home to more leather armchairs and a comfortable kingsize bed dressed in smart striped linen. Behind the bedhead are the toilet and shower areas, including a long troughlike ceramic basin that wouldn’t look out of place in a schoolyard. A claw foot bath sits to one side, underneath one of the many Derek Erskine black and white drawings hung throughout.
Beneath the loft, a generous country-style kitchen has wooden benchtops, corrugated metal splashbacks and ticking curtains in place of cupboard doors. While there’s a small microwave for those reluctant to learn the art of AGA cooking, the electric jug is kept below the benches and even the dishwasher door has been covered in hessian to disguise any hint of modernity.
A door from the kitchen opens to the back section of the barn, home to two more bedrooms. Here the walls have been covered in grey and white ticking, creating a softer, lighter look. At the top of the second staircase is a kingsize bed and bathroom, while on the level below there are twin beds, which can be converted to a king, as well as a sofa bed and another claw foot bath.
Upstairs or down, every space in The Barn reflects the property’s quirky character, including the powder room where well-stocked bookshelves fill one wall and pages of the late 19th century newspaper, Cassell’s Saturday Journal, serve as wallpaper.
Outside the Barn’s weathered front door there’s a lovely private courtyard, filled with wrought iron furniture and trees about to burst into bud during our spring visit. It’s the perfect spot to enjoy a morning coffee from the neighbouring Cliffy’s Emporium while you contemplate how to spend your days in charming Daylesford. There are beautiful parks and galleries to explore, good cafes and restaurants to enjoy and the area’s mineral spas are renowned for their therapeutic qualities. Just make sure you also allow enough time to soak up the character of The Barn.
Libby Moffet was a guest of The Houses Daylesford.
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CHECKLIST
The Barn
1 Wombat St, Daylesford, Victoria; (03) 5348 2008; thehousesdaylesford.com/the-barn.
Tariff From $350 a night, with a two-night minimum stay.
Getting there Daylesford is a 90-minute drive from Melbourne’s CBD.
Bedtime reading All that character lends itself to a period novel such as Joan Lindsay’s Picnic at Hanging Rock, set in the nearby Macedon Ranges.
Stepping out The Barn is on Daylesford’s heritage-listed Wombat St, just a short stroll from the beautiful Wombat Hill Botanic Gardens and The Convent Gallery, close to the town’s shops and restaurants and a quick drive to the area’s famous spas.
Brickbats The worn dark walls and floor of the main bedroom’s shower cubicle may be challenging for the claustrophobic. Toiletries are basic.
Bouquets Ample heating, fans and airconditioning mean visitors can enjoy all the charm of a barn stay without the temperature extremes.
Also try The Barn at Ross Farm, Meeniyan, Victoria; Arkaba Homestead, South Australia.