Original subtitles

Captions by Able.

'From its barren beauty

'to lush landscapes,

'the Australian countryside is as beautiful as it is breathtaking.

'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 I am in Central Gippsland

'in the gorgeous little town of Briagolong.

'I'm helping schoolteacher Madeline and electrician Jackson

'search for their dream country property.'

- I'm enjoying the Hotel Bellagio-type pull up,

- which is nice. - Exactly.

'They've a baby on the way.

'So our couple are returning to Jackson's hometown

'to start their family in this country paradise.

'I'll be showing them three amazing properties

'that I just know will blow them away.

'So why don't you come along for the ride

'as we search for their perfect home?

'And you never know, I might just find my perfect house as well.'

Should I buy this house?

- Maybe you should. Let me show you around.

- I just really love it.

Have you ever heard of the town Briagolong?

Cos I sure haven't. This is all new to me.

It's not often I admit that, but I am just learning

about this very sweet little village

where the locals absolutely treasure the community.

And that is why today's couple would love to move here.

They're in a little bit of a hurry. They have a baby on the way,

so they'd like a bit of space. Not just for children,

but also some acreage possibly for a few farm animals.

Can we find them their dream country home in Bri― Briag― Bri...

We'll find them something.

- 'We met at a pub in Sale. We just basically hung out ever since.'

That was pretty much it. - Yeah. We met face to face.

Mutual friends had recommended,

"Oh, you should meet so-and-so. You should meet Jackson."

Here we are how many years later? - We've been married for four years.

- Ten years all up. - Yeah. We live in Sale, and we're just looking to get out of Sale

on to a bit of land, preferably near my hometown of Briag.

That'll be nice, to go back to where I'm from

and just be a part of a small community.

There's lots of creative energy in Briag. There's lots of artists

and lots of big personalities in town,

and that's always lots of fun.

- 'I'm looking forward to obviously seeing where Jackson grew up,

'but also having a little bit more space and room to move.'

And Briag fits the price range as well that we're looking for,

for the space and the land.

- We're looking for a bigger property. Some land would be nice, maybe to keep livestock,

and just a place to spread out and enjoy some quiet, and a place we can start a family.

- So we're expecting our first baby, which is very exciting.

Hopefully we can find a property to settle into and... - ..raise it.

- ..expand our family. - Yeah. It's a very exciting time.

- 'Briagolong is a three-hour drive east of Melbourne.

'It's nestled in the heart of Victoria's stunning Gippsland region,

'right on the foothills of the Great Dividing Range.

'This town is an absolute wonderland of rolling landscapes

'and natural beauty.

'The local community is known for its creativity

'and its support of many local artists and makers,

'whether it be an art gallery or one of the many nearby wineries.

'Briagolong certainly has so much to offer Madeline and Jackson.

'It is now time to show Madeline and Jackson the first contender.

'House number one is an original 1889 home

'that has been beautifully restored

'and tastefully modernised.

'From the front, it may not look like it's on a lot of land.

'However, wait until you check out the backyard.

'Let's bring in our couple and see what they think.'

- Come on through. - Hi.

- Hello. - Welcome to Wahroonga.

It's Aboriginal for "our home". And you know this home?

- Yes. I grew up in this town, so I have seen the outside of the house a lot.

I've never seen inside, which will be exciting. But it's clearly had a massive restoration.

- What is the right place? What's the dream for you?

- Enough space that we can have a bit of garden,

but also a couple of paddocks would be ideal.

We'd love to just have a couple of sheep or some chooks.

A bit of a hobby farm. - Beautiful. - Yeah.

- Remind me of your budget, please. - We're looking around 950. - Yeah, 9...

- We've got room for movement, but that would be probably sweet spot.

- Speaking of room for movement, yours is rapidly changing.

Yeah, getting bigger by the day.

- Well, this first home is full of history, as you well know,

and it has had an incredible renovation.

I will show you out the back first. Are you ready to have a look?

- Great. - Let's do it. - Wahroonga. Let's go.

Well, this, I don't think, is what you expect to find

out the back of an 1889 property. What do you think?

- It's stunning. It's a stunning restoration. It's looking a million bucks. Looks fantastic.

- Even just the natural light and the open windows is really beautiful.

- I think the restoration that's been done on this place is next level.

The dado walls, the high ceilings.

But I'm so pleased that they've done the renovation respectfully.

All of this is new. What do you think of that kitchen? - That's fantastic. It's beautiful.

- Yeah, it's nice. - Well lit and looks like pretty new features.

Looks like a fantastic oven. Spacious.

- I like the timber with the cream. - It is a true country kitchen.

- It is.

- The bulk of the bedrooms are in the original section of the home.

So how about you just take a wander and when you're ready,

I will meet you out with the 40,000 birds in the garden.

- Take your time. - All right.

- Wow. Beautiful room. They're great windows.

It's beautiful. You can see into the backyard.

Do you think it's going to be enough room for what we're looking for? - I guess it depends.

It's lots of lawn area. You would just mow kind of backyard.

But whether or not you could have livestock,

we'd have to weigh that up.

- What do you think of the size of this garden?

- Much bigger than we thought it was going to be. It really sprawls out when you when you come out.

- You can see in the distance, not only do we have a veggie patch,

we have an orchard that goes all the way along the back.

And something that you can't see from here, I'm not sure if you spotted it.

There's a paddock on the other side of the house.

- Yeah. - That's the point of difference.

You really are in the heart of Briagolong as well.

So what do you think this is on the market for?

- Maybe 950. - Yeah, give or take. - 950?

- Maybe one mill. I don't know.

- What do you think about the fact that this has currently just been put on the market for 840?

- Oh, really? - 840 to 890.

- Beautifully restored

and really well maintained.

And I really like how open it is with the gardens.

- The open-plan living within the older property was fantastic.

It works really well. And it came under our budget by a lot.

Yes. Yeah, that's also positive.

- 'What a brilliant start to our house-hunt.

'Tick, tick, tick. This beautiful restoration

'seems to have everything on our couple's wish list.

'However, stay with us, because we still have two more houses to see

'and the properties are only going to get bigger and better.'

'Today I am in Briagolong with Madeline and Jackson,

'helping them find their perfect country property

'to start their new family.

'The first option that we toured

'was a gorgeous restoration of a classic home.

'However, this next home

'is a little more modern and just a tad bigger.

'I cannot wait to show this home to our couple.'

I'm loving the yin and yang of you two.

I keep giggling that you've married a schoolteacher.

You guys are yin and yang, aren't you? - We are.

- Yeah. - Yin and yang is a wonderful thing.

And that is what I'm playing along with this house here,

because you love your wraparound.

But for you, you're Mr Modern. Is that right? - I'm Grand Designs.

I wanna see clean lines, brick finishes, polished concrete floors. Modern stuff.

- This is gonna be my little modern contribution for the day.

This is someone that has taken a subdivided block of land.

We're on four acres here, and they've put a modern property on top of it.

- Yeah. Very modern. It's got the rendered finish.

I'm enjoying the Hotel Bellagio-type pull up, which is nice.

Exactly.

Let's go check out the inside. - Let's do it. - Come on through.

It is set into two zones.

We have a zone here that is the parent zone, so to speak.

Then we've got a whole bunch of other bedrooms.

There's five bedrooms here

and we haven't even seen the outside yet. Tell me what you think as you come in.

- Inside it doesn't look what I thought it was going to look like.

- Yes. - It's very modern on the outside.

Then you come inside and there's still a lot of brick,

and it's a little bit darker. Probably a bit more dated in here.

- Yeah, a little bit. But it's an awesome space.

It's a fantastic space.

- I'll just very quickly show you into the kitchen

and then I'll let you take a wander. - Great.

- Come just through here for a sec.

I get the feeling you guys love to entertain.

- Yes, that's right. This is a great space, and we've got the brand new cutting-edge oven over there.

The butler's pantry is a huge win. We like having a clean kitchen and putting appliances inthere.

- It's almost like being in a bar. - Yes, it's very bar-like.

- There's a few things you might like in the parent zone, so have a look at that

and then come and find me out in the paddocks. Great.

- Wow. Big space. - It's massive.

And I like how you've got the walk-in wardrobe separate,

and then you've got your bathroom behind the feature brick wall.

- I like the dividing brick wall.

It breaks it up a bit and something a bit different. - There's a child's room nearby,

which is handy if you do have a newborn.

The bedrooms are still quite dark, so even just like lighting...

- Lucky I know an electrician. - I don't know any good ones.

- What do you think of this space out the back?

You would own all of that green space.

That's the paddocks you could play with. - Couple of emus.

- Your neighbours have chooks. - I can hear the chooks. Clucky hen.

You can hear the chooks. Bad start.

- What do you think about...? - Excuse me. Sorry.

What do you think about the huge shed?

- That's an awesome shed. Great for storage, tinkering, whatever you may be doing.

So many applications. - Might have to buy a boat or something just to put inside there.

Oh, now you're talking!

- So what do you think this one's on the market for?

- Ooh, I'm gonna say a million.

- Yeah, I think the same. I think it might be a bit past a million.

- You are both spot on.

- It presented really nice from the outside.

It looked modern and it was nicely maintained.

- It is a very good, solid home and the appeal of the paddock. - Yeah.

- So they're all things that we appreciate. - It ticked lots of boxes.

- 'With house number two's amazing entertaining areas

'and sizeable paddock space,

'this certainly is going to give our couple a difficult decision.

'After the break, I chat with Michael

'from the Wellington Shire Council

'as we take a tour of the Briagolong Art Gallery.

'And later on we will see house number three.

'It's a substantial country estate

'that I think will totally impress Madeline and Jackson.'

'While in Briagolong, I took a break from all the house-hunting

'to stop into the Briagolong Art Gallery.

'I caught up with Michael from the local council

'to hear more about this charming town.'

I think it's interesting that in this community,

the two central points are the pub on that side of the road

and the community art gallery here.

There's something about this region that seems to inspire creativity, doesn't it?

- There is. And I think food and art go hand in hand.

So it's perfect. Both sides of the street, you've got it covered.

- What is it about this region that inspires that?

As I was driving in, when I looked at those mountains,

they were like a painting. - Mm. - So gorgeous.

- I think that's because of the different regions that we have.

So we've got mountains, we've got beaches. There's so much variety

that it just leads to so much creativity.

- Why did your parents bring you here when you were little? Cos you moved from the city when you were small.

- Correct. I moved to a tiny little town called Glenmaggie.

It was a big change. My parents saw the opportunity of raising their children

in a regional area. The beauty that that offered.

It's the perfect place to live, work, explore.

There's just so much that you can actually do in the region

of what we call The Middle of Everywhere, cos that's where we are.

- 'It is time now for us to show our couple the final option.

'This house is truly magnificent,

'with its wraparound veranda offering sweeping views

'of the Great Dividing Range.

'I am so excited to show our couple

'everything that this property has to offer.'

How do you feel as you come up the driveway

and you arrive at the veranda-surrounded home?

- It feels like a royal estate. - You roll in...

- Those mountains are like a painting. It's so beautiful.

That's a little cherry on top.

I believe that you knew this area when it was just paddocks.

- As a kid, I remember it turning up one day and it didn't have the veranda.

It appeared in the paddock. There was nothing else here. Interesting to watch it evolve.

It's such an established property now. It's a big house.

- It's massive. - Is that what you...? - Yeah.

- That is not what I thought... - That's good!

- OK. Yeah. - It's a nice English estate rolling in.

- I really like it. I love the veranda. You know I like a veranda.

- It's not an old build, but it's done in that classic sort of style.

So I thought you were gonna mention...

- ..the veranda. The tin roof. - Yeah. - Tick, tick.

Are you ready to have a look inside this big home? - It's a big home.

- It's a big home. - Let's have a look. - Let's check it out.

You can see in regards to the layout,

it's similar to the previous house.

However, I think the energy is slightly different.

- Yeah, it's just a lot more vibrant I think. - A lot brighter.

- You've got windows at the back looking at garden.

You've got windows at the front looking at garden.

So you get a lot of natural light. - Does the blue and white work for you?

- Yeah. - I think so. - I really like it.

- It could do with a bit of an update. - Minor things.

- We're interested in the bones of the house.

- I'll let you look around. I'll meet you in the garden.

- Great. - Which is beautiful. - Large.

- I'll see you soon. - And large!

- Wow. Big master bedroom. - Very high ceilings.

- It's very spacious. - Yeah. - Good storage.

- The bathroom's huge. - Yep.

Not sure about the spa. Not really my bag. - Yeah.

- It's a fantastic view out to the garden. Magnificent. - Views are beautiful.

I'm just looking at the amount of work that would be involved in maintaining that.

- Have to get a whipper snipper. - I think it'd be more than that.

- It's at this point of the journey, I should probably mention

there's a really big shed out the back. Did you notice?

- I saw that in the distance. Yeah. - What would you put into that shed? - I have to buy a lot more things.

- Boat! - You can turn it into a workshop or something like that.

We'll have to buy a mower. - Your ride-on mower. - Yeah, my ride-on.

- Your ride-on mower. - In regards to the paddocks,

you've got enough space here. - I think you could put some sheep.

My parents are beef farmers, so... - Chuck a couple in here.

- Yeah. Get a couple from dad and pop them out here. Some lawnmowers.

- What do you think this is currently on the market for?

- I'm probably gonna say...

9, 950. - Yeah.

I think probably about 950 to 1. - Yeah.

- I think that you will love to hear this is way under your budget.

It's around about 815, 820.

- Wow. - Yeah, wow. - That's massively lower

than what I was expecting. - Yeah.

Overall, aesthetically it's beautiful.

The maintenance... - Yeah.

- It's a big one for us. - It's a concern.

- With a bub on the way and family dynamics changing,

it is a lot to consider.

- Well, I started the day in Briagolong

wondering, "How on earth do I even pronounce the name of this town?"

And I'm ending it wanting to move here.

I can't quite get a grip on

which is the standout favourite for our couple,

so I truly can't wait for us to catch up again

and see if they have found their perfect country home.

'I spent the day in the gorgeous town of Briagolong

'with soon-to-be parents Madeline and Jackson,

'who are on the search for the perfect country home.

'After giving our couple some time

'to mull over the three wonderful contenders,

'I'm catching up with them again

'to find out if they managed to make a decision.'

I wasn't sure what was appropriate to drink around a pregnant lady.

- So you got both! - I wanted to be respectful.

In regards to the houses that we looked at,

was there a leading contender? Or is there one of those three that you could rule out?

- The second one was so different

to the number one and number three that we looked at.

- Your husband's favourite... - Yeah. - ..ruled out.

- Yeah. - We compromised. - Jackson, do you wanna add to that?

- It probably just wasn't quite our style, but it's a nice house.

- So one and three were pretty much move-in ready.

How did you feel about house one?

- We really liked number one. - It was a beautiful property.

- It had a lot of potential for what we were looking at.

It was more the land space. It had lots of space and was really private.

- Still a town block. - Got it.

- You couldn't have the animals or the hobby farm that we were hoping for if we were moving out to Briag.

- I suppose that leads us to house number three.

That was clearly the strong contender.

- I think so. We both got the wow factor

when we went and looked at it. But it had a really nice balance

of old-school look from the front that had been really nicely done up,

but then inside it was still quite modern.

- It offered the big block and it also was in our price range. - Yeah.

- That's a bonus. - It was a nice balance of the two properties.

- Do you think you'll make an offer on house number three?

- Yeah, we'll be putting an offer in on house three.

- I am so excited for your future.

- It ticks all our boxes. Like we said, it's got the bigger block and potential.

- I wanna wish you the very best of luck.

It has been a joy meeting you. Here's to your beautiful community. - Absolutely.

- Congratulations. - He's to Briag. Briarg. - Briarg. Brug. Brig. Briagolong.

'Well, Madeline and Jackson ended up picking...

'house number three,

'the serene country estate that had everything on their wish list.

'I've recently got word from our couple

'that their offer was accepted.

'Yeehaw! Congratulations, guys,

'on your new house, and all the very best for your soon-to-be family.'

Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air.

Copyright Able