Country Style

Like many Country Style readers, I dream of one day leaving the city behind and moving to regional Australia. In my mind’s eye, I imagine a small property near Kyogle, NSW, with a creek running through it and rolling green hills, far from the main ro

Abbey Medieval Festival, July 9-10 Vikings, Turkish oil wrestling, cannons and jousting – this year’s Medieval Festival at Abbeystowe in Caboolture will be filled with all the pageantry and drama of the Middle Ages. History buffs will be enthralled b

NSW Honeysuckle Cottage Book a stay at this charming cottage in spring or summer, when the gloriously sweet honeysuckle hedge is in flower, and you’ll understand how the cottage got its name. Located in Binalong, a quaint town rich in gold-rush histo

Breville has teamed up with Indigenous curator Alison Page for An Aboriginal Australian Culinary Journey, which pairs modern Breville appliances with striking artwork by First Nations creatives, including Yukultji (Nolia) Napangati (pictured). All pr

IT’S DEEP WINTER HERE, and though we have passed the shortest day, and though the light grows imperceptibly longer, the country is quiet with cold. The poplars are bare and the oak tree looks like it’s lit with candles as the sun sets through its bra

A FEW YEARS AGO, I was messing about at home one Sunday when my mother called and told me my father was in an ambulance after sticking his hand down a woodchipper, but that I needn’t worry because “it wasn’t like that scene in Fargo or anything”. Far

In 2020, Sarah Cagnacci, Mark Thomas and their three children fled Sydney for their weekender in the Blue Mountains, NSW – and never came home. “Our 24-hectare property in Kanimbla Valley was our weekender that we never got to spend a weekend at,”

WHEN ANDREW LINDNER’S PARENTS set up a sock factory in Goulburn in 1988, they were continuing a family tradition that had begun over 100 years ago. Andrew’s great-grandfather, Max, and his wife, Meta, founded H. Max Lindner Strumpf Fabrik in Germany

THE TAYLOR FAMILY had many idyllic Easter breaks in Blackbutt, Queensland, for over a decade before they discovered their own country escape in the South Burnett region. Cameron and Riza Taylor and their children – Sam, 18, 16-year-old Myla and Avy,

TAKE A WALK AROUND any farm across the country and you’ll likely spot an old tin shack or shed slowly crumbling in a paddock. Once sturdy, honest structures built for a hard day’s work, many are now simply a romantic postcard from Australia’s past. S

DENTAL PROFESSIONALS Adam and Samantha Bradshaw had been running a practice in Gympie for less than a year when they decided to build a ‘forever home’ on acreage in the pretty, rolling hills that surround the historic town in South East Queensland. T

KARKALLA NEAR SORRENTO, Victoria, sits among the tertiary dunes – the third dune back from the beach, covered in what is classified as alkaline scrub. Named after the native succulent which is rampant across the property, Karkalla is far enough away

ARE YOU A PERSON WHO TRAVELS with secateurs? Someone with scissors and possibly a basket on the back seat? Have you ever quietly snipped a flowering seed head or trailing bit of green from somebody else’s garden? I mean, the polite way to do it is to

COOKING IS IN Clarissa Pabst’s blood. Both her parents were chefs, as were her grandparents on her mother’s side, but it wasn’t until she was in her early 20s that she tapped into her inherited passion for food. That’s when she went to William Anglis

MY FIRST ENCOUNTER with some meat wrapped around a filling was my dear old mum’s Beef Olives: bashed-out collops of beef topside with a filling made of onion, garlic, breadcrumbs and herbs. Held together with a toothpick, they were browned in a pan w

ON THE BANKS OF THE beautiful Murrumbidgee River in Wiradjuri Country, Wagga Wagga is approximately halfway between Melbourne and Sydney. This thriving Riverina city has a population of some 65,000 people, thanks to a solid economic base including ag

Wagga has 34 preschools, 23 primary schools and nine high schools. The Wagga community comprises people from 112 nationalities. It has a young population and the largest group is aged between 20 to 29 years. Wagga is a strong and proud First Nations

PAPER PEAR Drop into this popular gallery and studio to view an array of works by Australian artists and makers. 9 Gurwood Street, 0429 301 631; paperpear.com BIDGEE STRAWBERRIES AND CREAM Pick your own, join a tour or stock up on ice-cream or sorbe

Healthcare and social assistance is the largest employment sector in Wagga Wagga, followed by public administration and safety, and education and training. The city welcomes around 1.38 million visitors each year. Wagga Wagga is projected to reach a

BUILT FROM WEATHERBEATEN timber and tin, its interiors boasting wooden sash windows, VJ-boarded walls and timeworn floors, the Post Office has the air of a perfectly preserved piece of heritage architecture that has been settled in its landscape for

FOR MANY FAMILIES LIVING in rural and regional Australia, the transition to secondary school is a time to offer children new opportunities to develop extracurricular activities, special interests and life skills. Writer and beef producer Claire Macta

Deveny’s memoir reminds us how hard it is to break free from habits at work and at home. When advertising and sales plummet, The Age offers journalist Deveny a 40 per cent pay cut. Will she be grateful to still have her column? No. She quits. Her hom

IN THE COLOUR OF THE SEASON, MIA FRATINO’S ASTRID FUNNEL CASHMERE SWEATER IN CHOCOLATE, $429, IS EXACTLY WHAT YOU NEED WHEN TEMPERATURES DROP. MIAFRATINO.COM There’s something nostalgic about a wool cardigan, and the Bonnie cardigan in Nutmeg, $269,

AMY STOPPED BY THE other day, accompanied by Russell the Muscle. Russell doesn’t have much to say, but that’s okay because Amy seldom stops talking. Amy is well on the way to being acclaimed as the person who saved conversation from extinction. Today

IF ANYONE WAS DESTINED to pursue a certain vocation, it’s Rebecca Bradshaw. The child health nurse was just nine years old when her father’s farm machinery came into contact with overhead powerlines. After convalescing in Rockhampton’s Base Hospital