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Acclaimed landscape designer Paul Bangay’s first home, a manicured estate known as St Ambrose, has been voted Australia’s favourite spring garden property. Picture: realestate.com.au\/buy<\/p>\n
Mr Bangay, renowned for his precise angles and perfect symmetry, later moved to Stonefields near Daylesford, transforming an empty cow paddock over two decades into one of Australia’s most beautiful country gardens<\/a>.<\/p>\n His original creation, now with its third owners since he left, has been voted Australia’s favourite ‘spring gardens’ home in the latest realestate.com.au iconic listing poll. Perhaps Mr Bangay cast a vote.<\/p>\n The current owner, who doesn’t wish to be named, said the 1.09 hectares of verdant splendour captivated him and his partner.<\/p>\n The property is spread 2.69 acres and is about 50 minutes from Melbourne. Picture: realestate.com.au\/buy<\/p>\n “My partner is from England and he’s always wanted a country estate with a garden that reminds him of home.”<\/p>\n Fans of Mr Bangay’s work, they felt the garden was “overdeveloped”, so they took out around 40 trees, added rose gardens, hydrangeas and more perennials, and installed a gas-heated 20m wet-edge pool and spa. They even invited Mr Bangay back to help restore its former glory.<\/p>\n Today there are ponds, statuettes, tall manicured hedges and topiary, and plenty of spaces for decadent garden parties.<\/p>\n The four-bedroom home was originally a school house. Picture: realestate.com.au\/buy<\/p>\n “We basically created a garden that we wanted,” said the owner.<\/p>\n The house, beyond a stone driveway lined with pencil pines, is a stunner too. Lovingly extended since its schoolhouse days, it has large, light rooms, oversized windows and French doors flowing to terraces.<\/p>\n The current owners invited Mr Bangay back to help restore the gardens he established more than 30 years ago. Picture: realestate.com.au\/buy<\/p>\n The master bedroom has its own quiet rose garden, the sitting room a fireplace for lounging, and a separate one-bedroom guest space has its own private entrance.<\/p>\n The owner said they don’t just admire their garden from the house; they love being among its beauty.<\/p>\n “You can find your little nook and cranny and read, or lay out a picnic by one of the fountains.”<\/p>\n The house itself includes four bedrooms, four bathrooms and garaging for five cars. Picture: realestate.com.au\/buy<\/p>\n And the upkeep? The owner said it’s designed to be minimal, with app-integrated and fully automated irrigation, and a gardener popping by just once a week.<\/p>\n It’s for sale via an expressions of interest campaign with a guide of $6.9m\u2013$7.5m. Agent Campbell Kilsby<\/a> of Kay & Burton Bayside said interest is blooming despite the sluggish market.<\/p>\n “You’d be hard pressed to find a better garden in Victoria. Once you step into it, it’s like a wonderland,” he said. “To find a garden residence of this scale inside a township like Woodend is quite unique.”<\/p>\n One of the runners up in the realestate.com.au poll was landscape designer Paul Bangay’s current home, Stonefields, currently on the market with a $6-6.6 million price guide. Picture: realestate.com.au\/buy<\/p>\n Bizarrely enough, the three runners-up in the realestate.com.au poll include Mr Bangay’s Stonefields residence at 20 Belty Drive, Denver<\/a> \u2014 listed with a guide of $6m\u2014$6.6m.<\/p>\n The four-bedroom Tuscan-inspired home comes with 15.8 hectares of gardens, oak-lined avenues, tulip displays and Mr Bangay’s trademark topiary.<\/p>\n The 39-acre property near Daylesford is one of Australia’s most treasured gardens. Picture: realestate.com.au\/buy<\/p>\n In Queensland’s Tamborine Mountain, four-bedroom ‘Foxlowe’ at 70 Hartley Road <\/a>boasts two hectares of ornamental plantings and seasonal flowers, two 400-year-old figs and a citrus orchard \u2014 all offered at over $4.5m.<\/p>\n The sprawling Gold Coast hinterland property is for sale for offers over $4.5 million. Picture: realestate.com.au\/buy<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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