Fayrefield House offers exclusive accommodation with a point of difference in the area. Photo / Supplied
Fayrefield House offers exclusive accommodation with a point of difference in the area. Photo / Supplied
A luxury homestead provides a welcome, indulgent respite from South Australia's rugged outdoors, finds David Leggat.
Driving through the South Australian countryside, all bush and dirt roads, is hardly the place you would expect to stumble on the oasis that is Fayrefield House.
Five minutes drive from the seaside town of Robe, the house is a labour of love built by a couple of Victorians, Sarah Beattie and Graeme Coxon. Not until you are just about upon the house do you see it, hidden among the trees and bush.
Talk about a stark contrast with its surroundings.
Fayrefield House is no B&B. Think a gentrified country house with all the mod cons you could wish for.
The couple bought the property just over four years ago and renovated it using stone reproduced from its original cottage, assisted by fourth-generation stone workers from Manchester on a working holiday.
Yes, there is a business element to it, but the house is more a retreat into another world.
The key words, according to Beattie, would be sustainability, luxury, exclusivity and intimacy, a touch of something special without being uptight about it.
The 75-minute drive from Coonawarra in the heart of wine country, gave no clue what awaited us.
In a sense it is out of place with its surroundings, but that's the appeal. South Australia Tourism backed their plans, recognising scope for accommodation with a point of difference in the area.
Convivial hosts Beattie and Coxon bought land adjoining the property, then the house when it came up for sale, an opportunity, they reckoned, too good to pass up.
There are three large bedrooms, with opulent, extremely well appointed en suites, an imposing main dining room, comfortable living area and substantial kitchen in the two-storey homestead.
A spacious guest room at Fayrefield House. Photo / Supplied
The hospitality was impressive; the welcome warm and inviting. After being offered a glass of local wine, we were driven to their catamaran resting in Robe harbour for a mid-afternoon seafood snack flush with oysters and champagne, and a look around the pleasant town of about 1200 sitting on Guichen Bay in the state's Limestone Coast.
Robe was first settled in the early 1800s and has retained more than 80 historic buildings, pointing to a high degree of civic pride.
Back to Fayrefield House and pre-dinner drinks and nibbles around a blazing fire in what might otherwise be termed the backyard, in reality a few steps from the bush.
And that rustling sound? Snakes.
Do we need to watch our feet on the walk back to the house for dinner, 50m from the front door?
"Don't worry," we're told. "They have heard us and gone away."
What followed was less a standard dinner than a sumptuous feast, which included a platter loaded with a range of desserts, which could have fed a group of six. We made an honest attempt at it, all washed down with local wine.
Coxon, who has done plenty of blue water yachting, including several Sydney to Hobart and Melbourne to Osaka races, ducked away early.
A neighbour had hit a kangaroo in her car. He had to go and shoot it. Not everything is removed from the outside world. Later, Beattie, a top-class cook who has a Masters in Business Administration and once worked as a federal MP's speech writer in a varied life, left us to it.
Guests can socialise around the homestead's outdoor fire pit, only metres from the bush. Photo / Supplied
She has always wanted her own business, but this is a project based more on soul than hard, financial pragmatism.
They've done it superbly. It's not a cheap stay but treat yourself.
