Emma Westwood finds a special little home among the gumtrees and stumbles in for a feast of the senses.

The timing of my visit to Planetrees was auspicious – “Perfect,” says proprietor Genevieve Milham, who resides in the Tuscan villa on the property. “I’m going to hold a dinner party to test out a French chef for guests. Why don’t you join us?”

As I have come to expect from the northeast of Victoria, any meal is an occasion worthy of effervescent conversation and good wine – in this case, a voluptuous Battely Syrah and Sojourn. The party of five (or so) that greets me at Planetrees is nothing short of celebratory. A glass of sparkling – spiked with the bud of a hibiscus flower – is immediately pushed into my hand, a seat pulled up, and Genevieve’s adorable, longhaired daschund, Zsa-Zsa, ogles me with eyes like melted chocolate. While Planetrees is Genevieve’s love, everyone here has a vested interest in the development of this unique property, whether the landscaping or the programming of the computerised irrigation system.

After a 30-year European odyssey, Genevieve returned to the region of her childhood to nurse elderly parents and, consequently, discovered Planetrees. “Between the buildings and the trees, I found a place that was a ‘magic bridge’ between my Australian roots and my passions for Europe, and my love of buildings, landscape and gardens,” explains Genevieve. “I bought the property to be my home and a place where I can make projects that explore and express my love of place-making.”

An architect by trade, Genevieve has the eye and know-how to see potential in the crooked lines and underfoot precariousness of structures others would have pulled down. An eccentric local builder known as ‘Red’ originally created the buildings still on site. His family handprints can be found in the walls of the villa where Genevieve lives; a building she plans to transform into a bed & breakfast as the next stage of the Planetrees development. On this particular evening, our al fresco dinner took place at the guesthouse ‘Planetrees Lodge’ – a log-and-earth cabin Genevieve miraculously turned into a luxury four-bedroom, two-bathroom retreat.

According to Genevieve, Red’s buildings came from materials salvaged from demolition sites – doors and windows from the Narandra maternity hospital, large timber beams from the Nagambi bridge, Oregan logs from the local forest, mud from the site, and stone from roadworks undertaken on the Stanley-Murtleford Road. He made the basic structures, but without regard to the landscape setting or refinement of the building and interiors.

That’s where Genevieve stepped in. “In renovating the Planetrees Lodge cabin, which opened to guests in January last year, I read the language that was inherent in the building and created the next chapter,” says Genevieve. “The ceilings are lined with willow reed, the walls in the upper level are lined with recycled weatherboards taken from the upper floor, the bedside tables, lamps and mirrors are also crafted from black willow sticks – imperfect and in the raw.”

“The modern elements are there for the comfort and convenience of guests: the kitchen is contemporary and functional, the bathrooms are modern and simple, but retain the rustic log walls,” she continues. “Carpet covers the once earth floors. Fans in all the rooms accelerate ventilation. The entry was the only major element introduced…” She refers to what is essentially a bridge over a waterless moat. “…It provides a safe stair to each of the two levels. You arrive at the front door across a bridge that traverses a rustic stonewall and river stone court below – and into this ‘other world’ of Planetrees.”

After taking a stroll among the ‘garden rooms’ Genevieve has mapped out across the property – and made friends with a fat goose who poses appropriately for photos beside a water fountain – we sit down for a three-course meal of pork terrine with yellow pickle and raspberry balsamic drizzle, duck breast with blueberry sauce and potatoes, and a meringue dessert with the plumpest of fresh berries. I am told our young French chef, Simone, handpicked the berries from an orchard down the road.

Setting our table with fresh flowers and serving our meals is 12 year-old Nell. Having learnt French from the young lady’s mother, Genevieve gravitated towards Nell like the-daughter-she-never-had, and this beguiling French-Aussie lass has become something of an inspiration to Genevieve in the design of her gardens.

“I walked her through the process of making a brief to create a new space,” tells Genevieve.  “We did this in French over a delicious coffee in Beechworth. Out of this came the concept for ‘Nell’s Garden’ – a round room of eight metres in diameter, circumferenced by pink and white striped French Sortbet Fromboise roses (Radcliffs). This is a space where she can lie on grass and watch the clouds with a bain d’oiseau (bird bath) and une maison d’oiseau (a bird house). “Guests can access it off the laurel walk. A further 10 metres along this walk is another room defined by a three metre by three metre chessboard.”

Genevieve believes her gardens will become a defining feature of Planetrees, although it will take another few years before their beauty is fully realised. In the meantime, though, visitors are still treated to a magnificent display of flora and fauna, and, unlike many places, everyone is encouraged to pick from the picking garden and gather fresh, organically-grown vegetables and herbs from the vege patch.

In regaling us with her stories around the dinner table, Genevieve talks about selling her own batch of vegetables recently and how she felt immeasurably rewarded by the experience – considerably more than any big business deal. It is with this appreciation of the ‘simple things’ I revisit the grounds of Planetrees following dinner and cast a glance upwards into a night sky where I’m dazzled by the brightest of bright stars anyone could possibly imagine. It is at that lightbulb moment I fully understand what Planetrees is about: It’s the place where you stop and smell the roses. Quite literally.

Planetrees Lodge
Stanley, Beechworth, Victoria, Australia
Phone: +61 (0)3 5728 6589
planetrees.com.au

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