A magnificent spread: 7 Saunders Road, Newham, 3442

Five minutes down the road from Newham General Store’s foodie treats, this magnificent country spread of about 29 hectares offers a stylish contemporary residence, magnificent park-like gardens, and a fab double-storey two-bedroom cottage on the edge of a huge ornamental lake with jetty and numerous leafy islands. Yes … it’s rather wow.

The main residence, built from sandstone-look concrete blocks, has no less than six french doors opening to deep front and side verandahs, plus two more sets to a large paved courtyard around which the house wraps. This wonderful indoor-outdoor integration embodies the cleverness of layout and underpins the high liveability values.

Entry is to a large living hub with large-format grey floor tiles (and those french doors). The kitchen centres dining and lounge rooms, the latter with wood heater and recessed timber shelves.

The streamlined cooks’ domain has plenty of storage including pot drawers, a walk-in pantry, St George underbench oven, glass splashback, a dishwasher and five-burner gas cooktop. Soft-aubergine laminate on benches matches a nearby highlight wall.

A large cavity sliding door opens to a broad hallway where timber shelves flank double cavity-door entry to a sitting room with study desk. The hall then ducks left and right to three grey-carpeted bedrooms and large main bathroom/laundry combo. Two of the bedrooms have their own access to a single en suite where timber louvres put on a designer show and the shower is a walk-in.

A meander along a walkway (and there’s a second driveway) to the cottage is a delightful one, with countless exotic trees, box hedging, stone steps and pretty plantings accompanying each step. An idyllic B&B or guest retreat, the cottage has vine-clad verandahs, a tri-zone living hub with wood heater, and a fully equipped open-plan kitchen with island bench. As well as smart bathroom (amazing water views) and laundry, there are two bedrooms – one downstairs, another a roomy loft.

The property also has two well-fenced paddocks, three dams, water tanks, and a huge timber-clad shed with concrete floor, power and loft storage.

Woodend and Kyneton are both 15 minutes away at most.

 

… Carole Levy