Add Category![Campbell Point House (Leopold), $10,750 a night - Image supplied Airbnb](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 1280 720"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
The Campbell Point House can be rented for $10,750 a night. Picture: Airbnb
It comes as no surprise that the Herald Sun’s best home for 2022 is found in regional Victoria.
Famous garden designer Paul Bangay’s Stonefields masterpiece, found between Kyneton and Daylesford, took the No. 1 spot in the state’s Top 50 Homes, after being listed for a huge $8m-$8.8m sale.
From bush retreats to lush landscapes and coastal hideaways, Stonefields was among a raft of regional properties that made it onto the list.
RELATED: VICTORIA’S TOP 50 HOMES FOR 2022 REVEALED
With the current median house price in regional Victoria sitting an alarming $310,000 below metropolitan Melbourne’s at $595,000, it’s clear to see why developers, architects and designers are turning to regional townships to build some of the state’s best homes.
See the top 15 regional properties in Victoria below, as selected by the Herald Sun real estate team:
15. THE RECYCLABLE HOUSE
True to its name, this Beaufort home is predominantly made with new, recyclable materials, as well as some already recycled.
It was designed and built by Inquire Invent managing director Quentin Irvine, who took inspiration from Australian steel wool sheds.
The innovative home hit the market last year, selling for $750,000 in November.
Other eco-friendly features include its solar passive design, shade sails, and the use of only natural paints and oils throughout the home.
It also has a solar hot water system, 50,000 litres of water storage with an irrigation system, and a thriving edible garden.
14. BEND OF ISLANDS GLASS HOUSE
484 Henley Rd, Bend Of Islands.
Made from a “treasure trove” of recycled materials, this regional hideaway looks like an enchanting treehouse from the outside.
Designed by Hamish Knox, son of celebrated mud brick architect Alistair Knox, the home aligns with the sustainable ethos found at the core of the coveted Bend of Islands community – where wildlife roams free and no domestic pets are allowed.
It incorporates materials such as timber telegraph poles, commercial grade glass from a Collins St tower, and a Victorian spiral staircase leading from the lawn to the treetop balcony, where you can catch sweeping views of the valley.
13. MIRA MIRA FANTASY ACCOMMODATION
1395 Bloomfield Rd, Crossover.
It’s kooky, it’s bizarre, and it has its very own castle.
An 8.09ha fantasy estate in Crossover – near Drouin – hit the market earlier this year with a $2.5m-$2.6m price guide.
It’s been operating as Mira Mira Fantasy Accommodation under the guise of owner Carl Ward, who helped his late father build the separate buildings scattered across the block.
There’s a psychedelic Gaudi-inspired sculpture dubbed Tanglewood, a cave house entered via a door resembling an open mouth, the fairytale ‘Dragon Manor’ house and more.
“I love this place, it’s my heart and soul,” Mr Ward said.
12. ALKIRA ECO-GLAMPING RETREAT
Voted number 2 in AirBNB’s most wishlisted stays in Australia in 2021, this exquisite straw-bale yurt is situated on a 16 hectare property in the Dandenong Ranges.
The eco-glamping retreat boasts a chic outdoor kitchen, aesthetic outdoor seating with amazing landscape views, and one of the most Instagrammable interiors you’ll find across the state.
Its unique design makes the property both warmer in winter and cooler in summer, and is surrounded by nature and wildlife, which you can meet and feed while you stay there.
11. THE BRICKYARDS
21-25 Main Rd, Hepburn Springs.
Famous artist David Bromley’s former Hepburn Springs family home boasts sculpted mythical creatures, a circus tent ceiling and customised blinds, and wallpaper printed with his images.
Bromley and wife Yuge, a fashion designer, sold the creative property this year.
A former circus tent makes up part of the ceiling, while some walls feature reclaimed windows, antique stamp trays and hand-blown glass.
The kitchen sinks and taps were sculpted to look like bronze mythical animals.
Melbourne-based immigration lawyers Seamus and Maggie Taaffe purchased the property and are planning to transform it into an accommodation site in collaboration with the Bromley’s, in a project estimated to cost $8m-$10m.
10. JOLLEY ROAD ESTATE
This luxury, seven-bedroom pad is slated to break the house price record for rural southeast hideaway, Tonimbuk with its huge $10m asking price.
Found on a sizeable 17.81ha block, it features three separate residences, an Olympic-sized horse arena, tennis court and a children’s play centre.
The main house is complete with a designer kitchen, featuring black leather marble benchtops and Neff steam ovens, while an alfresco entertainer’s deck comes with a floating fireplace.
Floor-to-ceiling glass windows look out onto the surrounding paddocks, creating an idyllic country escape for buyers looking to escape the hustle and bustle of the city.
9. 10-STAR HOME
Forget bill shock. At this coastal home, odds are the energy company will be paying you.
Created by building firm the Sociable Weaver in conjunction with Clare Cousins Architects, it was Victoria’s first 10-star energy efficient home.
Its $500,000 construction was also zero waste, though would cost closer to $660,000 today.
Environmentally conscious buyers can download the plans for free at liveatthecape.com.au. Follow the original closely enough, and they get an up to four-bedroom, two-bathroom home that’s estimated to cost just $3 a year to run.
8. CALLIGNEE ECO BUSH HOUSE
You might have seen this home on Grand Designs Australia when it was being built, after the original home was destroyed by fires on Black Saturday about two weeks following its completion.
Blending into the bush, it’s completely off grid, powered by solar panels and batteries, and surrounded by granite boulders to provide a thermal buffer and rainwater tanks.
But it doesn’t miss out on the fun, with a 19m lap pool flowing along the main living zone found behind a glass divider, and open-tread staircases providing eye-catching design highlights.
Plus, you can rent it out from $400 a night.
7. MAD MAX BEACH HOUSE
310 Great Ocean Rd, Fairhaven.
Boost Juice founder and star of Shark Tank and Suvivor, Janine Allis offloaded her iconic Fairhaven beach house last year for a whopping $10m.
The luxury pad is known for featuring as Max Rockatansky’s hide-out in the original 1979 Mad Max Movie, and is one of only two properties on the beach side of the Great Ocean Road in the seaside hamlet.
A major renovation to the 3000sq m property in 2016 saw the addition of natural timber cladding and a solid concrete interior.
It boasts five bedrooms, six bathrooms, a private, north-facing pool and spectacular views across Fairhaven Beach.
6. THE GLASS HOUSE
115 Outlook Lane, Gisborne
There are 44 full-height panes of glass and just five interior doors inside this horseshoe-shaped home high on a Gisborne hill.
It’d be easy to think the Glass House was made for its vista, but seen from above a new aspect emerges.
The Chinese symbol for yin and yang appears in the circular garden space that the open-plan, three-bedroom home wraps around.
It’s a perfect metaphor to capture the home’s impeccable balance between inside and out, the highs of its elevation and the lows of the gully it looks across.
Even its dark exterior juxtaposes its pale interior.
5. FAIRFIELD ESTATE
3210 Murray Valley Highway, Rutherglen.
This grand Rutherglen estate featuring an 1889-built Italianate mansion named Fairfield was once Australia’s largest vineyard and winery complex.
The 851.5ha property was established by former goldminer and general store owner George Morris in 1859 and was restored by his great granddaughter Melba Slamen-Morris in the 1970s.
As the nation’s largest vineyard in 1904, Fairfield’s cellars could store up to 1 million gallons of wine, according to The Victorian Heritage Database.
Featuring a lacework veranda and balcony, the mansion has rooms which were previously used for smoking and billiards, servant’s quarters, a nursery and ballroom, in addition to seven bedrooms.
4. POLE HOUSE
One of Australia’s most photographed homes is found on the shores of Fairhaven, stilted 40m above Fairhaven Beach.
Engineer and architect Frank Dixon built the original, letterbox-style wooden home in the 1970s, who said it “moved like a giant tree”.
“It’s designed to sway up to six inches and withstand winds as strong as Cyclone Tracey,” Mr Dixon said. Spooky.
Since then, the iconic coastal house was restructured and renovated ten years ago to create a luxury escape – which can be rented as short-stay accommodation for a lofty $1200 a night.
3. RANNOCH HOUSE
One of Geelong’s best homes, Rannoch House has stood on Pakington St since 1851.
In the past 30 years the owners have returned the stunning Renaissance Revival residence, complete with balustraded parapets and timber loggia, to all its glory.
The 22-room mansion, reminiscent of the grand homes in Melbourne’s leafy inner eastern suburbs, was built for Captain Francis Ormond and its list of residents includes Geelong benefactor Alexander Miller.
But it’s hard to find a buyer at that price point in Geelong, with the property up for sale for a year now.
2. CAMPBELL POINT HOUSE
Stone walls, checkerboard tiled floors, sweeping staircases, an infinity-edge pool, manicured gardens and a tennis court – few Victorians will live among this kind of splendour.
But at Campbell Point House you can sleep over – though it costs upwards of $10,000 a night to have its eight accommodation suites and restaurant to yourself.
The lakefront 15ha property was built in 2008 as the private residence for billionaire businessman Frank Lowy’s nephew, Aaron Parkhill.
It could wind up that way again if its years-long, $22m-plus sales campaign turns over a buyer.
1. STONEFIELDS
Hundreds of thousands of plants, an Italy-inspired house and hilltop pool feature at Stonefields, an iconic property built by celebrated garden designer Paul Bangay.
The 20.23ha home is located in Denver, between Kyneton and Daylesford. Bangay described Stonefields as an “empty cow paddock” when he purchased the site in 2004.
He went on to create a magnificent estate featuring paving stones sourced from Italy, walled sections, topiary, a woodlands area and rose garden.
The house itself was inspired by an Italian hillside villa and Bangay collaborated with late interior designer Stuart Rattle on the project.
Bangay and husband Barry are selling Stonefields with an $8m-$8.8m asking price.
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