Tonia Todman on her property near Kyneton.

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Australia’s queen of craft, television icon and author Tonia Todman is famous for appearing on Healthy, Wealthy and Wise, Good Morning Australia, Making It Australia and Rove Live.

She and husband Michael Dowding rebuilt their house near Kyneton, set on a 4.05ha farm with English-style gardens, after a 2018 fire destroyed most of the property.

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FIRST HOME

It was a 1902-built wooden home that would be called a worker’s cottage today, in Chatswood, Sydney.

The toilet was separate from the house and you needed a lantern to get to it at night.

That provided a bit of entertainment as to who could dodge the spiders the best.

Once we bought, Dad drove up and said: “When are you going to demolish it?”

He had no idea I was going to do it up and plant a garden.

Tonia Todman and her husband Michael Dowding are selling their farm near Kyneton.

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Chef Iain Hewitson with Tonia Todman on the television program Healthy, Wealthy and Wise.

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I planted shrubs and my favourite tree was an English plane tree near the letter box.

There was a little garden shed that had a willow tree near it, I didn’t plant it but nurtured it.

We built a pergola over the deck out the back with a grapevine growing over it.

I moved to Melbourne for work and bought a house in Malvern that provided a big studio for work, the house was built by an artist.

Wherever I have lived has become an area for photography and filming.

I was very involved in television and it was great, it was close to the city and a wonderful shopping strip.

The country-style kitchen has a 1200mm Artusi cooker.

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Tonia Todman in the garden.

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I then lived in Kew and on a farm in Daylesford, an original log cabin on 10 acres (4.04ha) and found it had fabulous soil, and there was creek.

I don’t look for properties that are the complete package, I look for what I can do to improve the property.

I look to make a home comfortable and welcoming, not a showcase, but I do appreciate good design and craftsmanship.

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CURRENT HOME

Where we are now near Kyneton, we moved to from Daylesford, but we wanted to be more in the country.

My husband Michael was reading the newspaper and I think he saw an advertisement that read, “Derelict bluestone homestead on 10 acres in need of repairs”.

He said: “That sounds like you”.

The house was built in the 1840s-1850s and extended in the 1910s, it was love at first sight.

The lush English-style gardens.

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Materials salvaged from the original homestead after it burned down were used in the rebuild, including chimney bricks on the herringbone floor and bluestone behind two fireplaces.

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We are in the process of selling but what I will really miss are the historic trees here, two big cashmere seeds that Baron von Mueller planted, he designed the Melbourne Botanic Gardens and other botanic gardens.

They were excess stock from his holding nursery on Mt Macedon.

There are also some very old pear trees and fruit trees in the orchard that are very lovely, lots of old apple trees and I will miss those, but the possums will still have at them, no doubt.

Plenty of art on display.

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Years ago, a fire demolished most of the house except for the 1910 extension, and so we rebuilt.

It got a new roof and a new design reflecting the 1910 edition, with a veranda all around, a hip roof and was made out of the same kind of weatherboard that we had to search high and low for.

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DREAM HOME

I don’t really have a definitive answer, as long as it’s got water near it I’m happy – it doesn’t have to be a beach, it can be a creek.

I like a garden, I couldn’t live somewhere that was barren, I need trees and soil.

The style of the house has to be authentic, not tricked up – not a posh house, but honest.

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