Fifteen minutes from Castlemaine, with easy access to the Calder Freeway for Melbourne and Bendigo, this elevated mud brick home sits above its own paddock, private and unhurried, with views drawn out across the land to Mount Alexander and Mount Macedon. It's the kind of place that suits a slower rhythm: horses in the paddock, chooks in the yard, a garden that asks little and gives a lot.
The home is built from mud brick, its slate and timber floors carrying that same handmade, settled quality through every room. At the centre, an open kitchen adjoins dining and a dual sitting room, one space unfolding into the next. The kitchen has a gas cooktop with an undermount oven, terracotta wall tiles, and a timber benchtop suited to easy, casual dining. Double doors and a sliding door open onto the front verandah, and a north-facing window holds a quiet spot for a chair or a table, morning light and not much else. In the adjoining sitting room, a wood heater sits beneath a high, angled timber ceiling, exposed beams overhead and elevated windows drawing the northern light deep into the room.
A separate living area carries the same warmth, a second wood heater set into a brick chimney, a split system for the cooler months, and windows that keep the paddock and the garden always in view.
Three of the four bedrooms have built-in robes, one with its own external access for guests or farm mornings. The fourth is set on a mezzanine level, a flexible living space or bedroom, with windows framing the surrounding tree line. The central bathroom has a corner bath, a separate shower, a vanity, and a separate toilet, with a second shower, vanity, and separate toilet externally accessed for added convenience.
Outside, a charcoal blue barn-style timber garage adjoins a home studio, with brick floors and plywood-lined walls and ceiling, a space equally suited to a workshop, a studio, or somewhere to put your feet up after a ride. A vine-covered verandah and a low-maintenance native garden wrap the house, while chook pens and water tanks round out a property built for a genuinely self-sufficient life. Power is entirely off-grid, an extra-large 10kW solar system paired with 26kWh of battery storage. At the front, a fenced paddock is ready and waiting for a horse.
For the horse person, the maker, or anyone drawn to a slower, earthier way of living, this property is a home that invites gentle living.
