Original subtitles

- From its barren beauty

to lush landscapes,

the Australian countryside is as beautiful as it is breath-taking.

Many Australians are discovering rural life and making the move.

So I'm on the hunt to help everyday Australians find their perfect country house.

Today ― we are in Beechworth with Tom and Kathy,

who are looking for the perfect country character home.

The home is built on granite that was apparently carved by convicts.

There's so many stories to this place.

We tour three houses, which all offer something totally different.

I have a place that used to be the old blacksmith shed. It was a shed.

Taken the horses out?

- But which house will be right for our couple?

What do you think you'll do?

- I think we'll definitely...

- Do stay with us.

www.able.co.nz Copyright Able

- Welcome to Beechworth.

This is a country town that is absolutely loaded with character ―

just the sort of place today's buyers, Kathy and Tom, can't wait to retire into.

They do not want too much work, but they would like a little bit of charm,

and I have three absolutely doozies for them.

Tom and Kathy have actually been Beechworth locals before,

so let's find out what is it that has a hook on their heart and is calling them back.

- We've been away for 11 years,

and when we came to sell up our property, really,

it was a no-brainer for this to be our retirement base.

It's quite a creative area here. There's a lot of people moving into town.

- Now, as you can see from their previous two homes, Tom and Kathy are both keen gardeners,

and they have extensive experience with landscaping,

so they'll be looking not just at the house, but the entire outdoor area.

- There's an environmental element to running it. We want sustainability.

We don't want a lot of maintenance. - Yeah, get the right sort of garden and plants and stuff,

and you can bring in a lot of birdlife and just soften an area.

So if we can― - For what we're looking for.

- If we can find something we like for around a million, that'd be fantastic.

We'll take a deep breath as we say a million.

- Cos that was unheard of 11 years ago. - Yeah.

- Beechworth is a three-hour drive north-east of Melbourne.

Its origins trace back to the discovery of gold in the 1850s,

which ushered in a rush of optimistic prospectors.

Beechworth also has ties to the infamous bush ranger Ned Kelly,

who won a brutal bareknuckle boxing match of 20 rounds in a Beechworth pub.

With its balance of hospitality venues, nature trails and small-town charm,

Tom and Kathy really have chosen the perfect destination for their next country home.

Our first Beechworth contender has been newly renovated in heritage style.

Its main strength is location, location, location.

It is just one street back from Beechworth's main strip.

What will Kathy and Tom think of house number one?

- Hello, hello. - Hello.

- Now, I've done a little bit of homework, and I have found out that you guys are boomerangs.

You're not boomers, but you're boomerangs.

- I know. We're returning to our roots and where we had our children and a town that we really love.

- And you don't want a lot of work? - Exactly. We've done big renovation and major work,

and would like to actually have one where we can relax.

- Well, you can hear by the odd passing car, we're pretty much in the centre of town,

and I found a house that doesn't have too much work but definitely has loads of character.

Are you ready to check it out? - Let's look.

- Yes, please. - OK, we're just looking. We're just looking.

- We're just looking. Thank you. - We're just having a squiz, all right, after you.

- It's a traditional style outside. Raised at the front there.

- They've actually kept a lot of the style of it. They've added to the cross rails,

and you can see there's a heritage element to it that's been maintained

and obviously they've worked with heritage to do.

- I love the smell of fresh paint in the morning,

and you can tell that this place is pretty schmick.

It has been freshly renovated, but it's still an old property in the sense

that the house itself is over 100 years old, and it was on the site of an old inn.

I think Beechworth back in the gold rush days actually had around 54 inns or hotels to stayin.

- It was a good drinking population.

- It was a very good drinking population. - Good drinking population.

- My kind of people. - Dunno if I should say that.

- But you know this place, is that right?

- Yeah, it was old, green, a bit forlorn on the corner for a number of years,

so it's lovely to see these old houses being brought up

and actually renovated and repositioned for another 100 years.

It really has for some time needed some work, and it's lovely to see it being restored and caredfor, and...

- Modernised. - Yeah.

- Really well. They've done a great job on it. - Reinvented it.

- Well, you can see from this reno that every appliance is brand new.

I think it's interesting that there is the connection for a TV but there's no TV on the wall any more,

because so many people now just use their computers or their phones,

and you may appreciate the fact that there's heating and cooling ducted right throughout.

I would love you to just check out this place, and when you're ready, come and meet me in the garden,

cos I've just spotted a little veggie patch ― not too much work, I promise.

So take your time. - No picking. - I can't promise that.

- Here's the master. - So, what do you think?

- This is great. It's got everything.

And you've got a walk-in wardrobe, so that's fabulous.

And an en suite. - An en suite, yeah. - Yeah.

- So, you know, it's nice and fresh and new, and really there's no maintenance to do

for probably the next 10 years, which gives us more free time to travel.

So room for solar? - Yeah, there's a fair bit of roof space there, and it's...

A lot of it is facing the right way, so it'll be a good one.

- What do you think of the garden? It wraps all the way around.

- Well, it's a fresh palette to start from, which is always good,

so I think, really, you're looking at the fences, and you're looking at screening

and getting some soft, sort of, vegetation in there and just taking, probably,

the bounce off some of the fences and stuff, so just to soften it.

- And is it right that you've left a really big garden? - Oh yeah.

- Yeah. Vertical garden, yes.

- We lived on rocks, so there was a lot of reptiles. - Hmm.

So it'd be nice to get away from the snakes and have something in town.

- Oh, simple request. Simple request. - Simple. Basic requirements.

- So, does this place fit your wish list so far?

- It does in a lot of ways. - All the work's done. It's close to town and all the facilities.

- Is there a but?

- Hmm.

Maybe a little― - It's probably a bit landlocked for us, coming from such a big space.

- Yes. - With big views. - With big views

and a lot of garden and space around it. - Yeah.

And it's got three bedrooms, so that's good. - Yeah, if you've got some others,

we'd like to have a look. - I have two more to go, so before we go and see them,

just for the fun of it, what do you think this is on the market for?

- Oh, you'd have to be around the eight― high eights. High eights? Eight, nine?

- It's on the market at the moment for around 875 to 895,

so it's under budget. - Hmm. - That's good.

- I think for living in town and so central to everything

and such a central location, it's still a good-sized house.

- And with everything done ― all the work's done.

It's been restored really well, so what you pay is basically all you need to pay.

- And I think that you will love the next two houses that I'm gonna show you,

so once again, please be openminded. I'm feeling really good about them. Let's go.

Up next ― we tour this breathtaking Victorian,

and later on, we'll check out a transformed blacksmith shed. Please, stick around.

I am in Beechworth, Victoria, helping Tom and Kathy relocate to the area for their retirement.

Now, we first toured a home newly renovated in heritage style.

However, it is now time for something totally different ― a Victorian era home with an established garden.

Let's check it out.

OK.

This place has some serious history.

It dates back to the 1870s, and in Beechworth there is a famous distillery called Billson's.

It went on to great success, and this was the owner's house.

I think that you can tell that serious money has gone into the building of this.

It's built on the most amazing foundations. Big windows, soaring ceilings.

What do you think?

- We saw it 26 years ago, but this is pre-pre-pre-renovation. - Yeah.

- So I'm really interested to see what they've done with it.

I think it had so much potential, and it's a gorgeous spot. - Yeah.

- Wait till you see inside. Come in. Oh my God, and the gardens.

- This section was added on in 1911, so as the wealth grew, as the family grew,

so did the house.

And here, this is where you can feel, I suppose, those features of the double brick. It's silent.

- Yeah. - It is so calming, and then you look out on to the garden.

You look up to the Wunderlich ceilings, the sash windows.

Apparently, every room has a trapdoor that goes down to the subfloor.

The home is built on granite that was apparently carved by convicts.

There's so many stories to this place.

- The really good thing with this one, it's been restored to the original style.

So they've kept a lot of the Victorian features and so on and built on it,

rather than trying to hide it and turn it into something new.

- You know, as you walk through the house,

and as you come into what is clearly the original part of the house, this is where you think,

'I'm just a custodian of a place like this.' There's so much history. There's so many stories.

This was the original kitchen, when kitchens were built separately to the main homestead

just in case there was a fire in the kitchen, it wouldn't risk the rest of the house,

which I just think that's a great story.

So, when you first looked at the house 26 years ago, was this connected back then?

- Through a walkway, but I think this was actually an outside small veranda,

from memory. - Right, right.

- The midwinter is sometimes unpleasant, so having a nice cosy room and space

that you can spend a lot of time in is great.

- And I think having a big Victorian, you actually want some smaller spaces

that you can move into and use in different seasons,

and when it's summer, you go into the larger rooms that are airy and have an ambient temperature,

and in winter, you come into your little cosy areas, so, yeah.

- Well, I will let you look at the sunroom. Have a wander, have a little look through,

and when you're ready I'll see you outside.

- Love the sunroom.

- Look at the view into the garden. It's just beautiful.

- Just sit here in the mornings and just enjoy that.

- I would do anything for a garden like this, but I'm not going to romanticise it,

because I know that you know how much work goes into a garden like this.

- So easy. - Oh, you think?

- Compared to what we've done in the past. - This is really well established,

so there's a lot less work involved.

- Probably got a 50-year jump on the last property because of the established trees, so...

- If not 100. - Yeah, you're not waiting for that to come in,

which when you're retiring at our age, you don't want to wait too long.

- How much do you think this is on the market for?

- I think it might be beyond our budget. - Double brick in Beechwood.

Yeah, over a mil, definitely. - Yeah, I know that you know the market, so, yes.

It is just over your budget, but just. It's about 1.2.

- It'd be worth it. - It's worth it.

- Totally worth it. - It's superb.

So, you're not gonna find many like this.

Any serious beer drinker who visits Beechworth will already know of Bridge Road Brewers.

Which for the past decade has built a reputation for its range of craft beers.

I caught up with Ben, who gave up life in the Austrian Alps

to return to Beechworth and start his very own brewery.

I love your story, that you head off to Europe to study winemaking,

- meet a girl... - Yeah.

- ...slight diversion, and you end up being fascinated by craft brewing, is that right?

- Coming back home didn't have the same kind of beer that I had when I was in Europe.

I got to bring the girl back but not the beer, so I had to do something about it.

- Am I having pavlova beer? - Yeah, the Magical Christmas Pavlova Unicorn, actually.

- It's creamy. - Yeah, it's creamy.

It's on the nitrogen as well, so... - What does that mean?

- If anyone's had Guinness, you would have Guinness and seen how it has small bubbles. It's quite flat,

but very creamy. - Yeah. - So instead of carbon dioxide

through the beer, it has nitrogen through the beer to give a magical side of the pavlova,so...

- It's magical. - Adds a texture to it.

- You were living and working in the most beautiful regions.

But Beechworth had this hook on your heart, and you came back to start your business,

and you've know bought the building. You're just expanding a mile a minute.

What was it that brought you back?

- Yeah, I think the ease of country living. There's no traffic lights in town.

It's five minutes to get anywhere. We have four seasons here, so it is cold in the winter.

And it's nice in the summer,

but you get to experience spring and autumn and winter and summer and all those things.

We're not missing out on much here.

- Our final property is... Well, it's kind of a bit of a wild card ―

a blacksmith's shed that has been converted into an energy efficient modern-style house.

Will this eccentric home be the one that wins over Tom and Kathy?

Do you remember the first house I showed you? I had to apologise about the occasional passing caror truck.

Well, here...

- Nothing. - It's just birdsong.

However, I don't want you to freak out when I say to you, 'Please be open minded about this home,OK?'

Go with me. - What have you got for us?

- I have a place that used to be the old blacksmith shed. It was a shed that's now a house.

- Taken the horses out? - Hmm.

- Just come and have a look, OK? - OK.

- Just come and have a look. - Open-minded.

- Open-minded. - Sounds good. - Righty-oh.

- Well, now that we're in here, you can see how it once was a shed. And these beautiful soaring ceilings.

It's different, isn't it? - Yeah, I love the way they've kept all the timber.

- All local. 17 local trees that have been moved in here. - Wow.

- They go right throughout the space. The concrete floor, polished concrete floor, it's all local.

I think there's, like, five different types of local stone.

And the glitter is actually tiny shards of mirror.

- Ah, it's so different. - Beautiful.

- Yeah, it's not something you'd expect to find here in town,

that's still got the character with all the big lumps of timber and the structure inside,

but is a modern home.

- When you have ceilings this high, you can easily put a mezzanine in. - Yeah.

- You can have some fun with it. You can be creative. Is it too creative?

- No. No. Not at all.

And it's lovely to see an old barn being repurposed in this manner,

I think, and actually using all of the timbers and the architecture and the style of it

to actually pump it up to another level as a house.

- And to me, looking out that view, if you were sleeping here, waking up in the morning,

that view would never be the same. - No.

- Because you would see the constant change. - Seasons, yeah.

- Yeah! - Beautiful.

- Check this. - Oh, nice courtyard. - What a courtyard.

- I think you could do a lot with this, cos you could actually put a whole lot of greenery

and do more in the courtyard and make it feel a little bit more indoor-outdoor.

- Yeah. All the timber structure's still here and visible.

- And that fountain, the sound of running water in summer, is lovely.

- It's cool, isn't it? - It has a tractor seat, so...

I'm not sitting on that.

- So, you couldn't see this from the road, I don't think. - What a view.

- No. - That beautiful view that goes right across the valley.

- And there's a lot to be said for borrowed landscape.

- Is that what you call it? - Yeah. - Borrowed landscape, yeah.

So you can actually include all of the canopies of the trees and the parks,

all the surrounding vegetation into your environment, which is― - And it's a good thing.

- Yeah. - Cos you don't manage it.

- So, if you had a wild guess, what do you think it's on the market for?

- It'd have to be at the top of our budget, I think. That mil mark, something around that.

It's so different and so unique.

- It's just under it's about 100 grand under, around the nine mark.

Now, I know that this is a really hot market, so have a think about it,

and then please let us know how you're feeling.

- I think the price is very good. - Yeah, three bedrooms is good for family visiting.

- Three en suites is a luxury in that price range. - Yeah.

No fighting over the bathroom. - No, brilliant. - Which is great.

- Yeah. - We've had that before.

I've given Tom and Kathy some time to think through the three homes that we have toured in Beechworth,

so let's check in again to see if they have made a decision.

So, did you have a good chat when you went home?

We had quite a long chat trying to work out what we wanna do.

- There wasn't one of those three that you went, 'Nah, definitely not.' - No.

- So, with that corner house that was move-in ready, how did you feel about that?

- It's bedded in town, but it's probably a little bit too much in town for us.

Tom's a light sleeper, so I think we'd notice the road noise. - Oh, really?

- So, that'd be... - And what about― - Other than that, it's spot on.

It's all ready to go. - I just― That's right.

I thought you really could just move in there,

- pop your paintings up and away you go. - Yeah.

- So, if you're a light sleeper and you don't like too much traffic noise,

then what did you think of the double bricked grand home?

- Oh, that was amazing, that place.

It was just, you know, nice and quiet and cool in summer,

and, yeah... - Yes. - And with that garden.

Is spectacular.

- You seem to really enjoy the story behind the old blacksmith shed.

You took me by surprise that you were so open-minded to it. It was wonderful.

- Yeah. - So how did you feel about that one?

- Well, I think we've done an old house.

- Having this. - We've done unusual houses,

and to have something in Beechworth that's not old stock and it's not brand-new stock,

and that middle sort of thing that's had a quirky conversion... - Hmm.

- ...is quite unusual and quite different for this town.

- So, what do you think you'll do?

- I think we'll definitely...

- Smithy. - Go for the smithy. For the shed.

- Go the smithy. - Go the smithy.

- Well, I am delighted that you may have found this future home in this beautiful, beautifultown.

And I know that Beechworth is famous for its honey, but I've also brought you some honey from my farm.

- Oh. - My mum said everybody likes honey, so...

- I love honey. - Oh yeah. - Really?

- Yeah, yeah. - Well, this is from my home to you. - Thank you.

- And we wish you all the best of luck for your new life in the country.

Good news, people! Tom and Kathy did put an offer in for house number three, the smithy.

And I am thrilled to report it was accepted. Well done.

We wish you the very best for your return to the beautiful town of Beechworth.

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