HOUSE IN THE DRY

When winter’s night descends, frost crisps Tamworth’s regional Victorian plains. In the summer, the unforgiving sun strips the land of moisture. It’s an environment of extremes.

At Tamworth House, a residential farmhouse conversion, SBLA Studio installed drought and frost tolerant plant species with a focus on Australian mallee specimens, in a series of external gardens hugging the rural homestead. Beyond the house’s gardens, the property’s former grazing lands had become undernourished and riddled with agricultural weeds. SBLA Studio began a regeneration project using a seed spray to return native grasses and wildflowers to the soil they had once sprouted from.

Long-term planting aspirations include fostering larger woodland species including yellow box and Blakeley’s red gum. Finally the client has been left with the skills to continue their own regenerative land management, assisted by local Tamworth nurseries and suppliers.

Design Team Simone Bliss | Kate McCracken

Photos by Anthony Basheer