IN THIS ISSUE

A Touch of Country Style Elegance
Welcome to a privileged insight into the MBA 2005 National Award winning prestigious Upper Hunter country estate home which our readers first glimpsed on the cover of Edition 14. The owners have opened their doors to showcase their home which will no doubt inspire and amaze.
Driving along the long and winding driveway lined with stately Poplar trees throughout a vineyard you look at the hill above and glimpse "Winbirra", a Denman estate residence which has come of age, as it sits perfectly into the landscape, as it was always meant to do.
Today the residence is surrounded by superb landscaped gardens, manicured lawns and commands centre stage over the picturesque valley views and has become a landmark property in the district.

WALKING THE BLUE GUM HILLS
The Blue Gum Hills Regional Park was created in 2001 and in 2011, supporters came together to celebrate the 10 year anniversary. On the Biodiversity Day in September visitors could enjoy a picnic, explore the network of bushwalks, discover some of the coal mining history of the area, wander through the old cemetery, defy gravity in the Treetop Adventure Park, plant trees and shrubs, experience the mining themed playground and be bamboozled in the maze. These activities are available every day of the week for visitors to Blue Gum Hills just off Minmi Road at Minmi and close to the F3 Freeway.

BORN TO GARDEN
It is often commented that true gardeners are born with gardening genes and blessed with green fingers.  In the case of Kerry Benton this is the case, as from a young age of eight, she remembers cultivating a garden plot behind her home’s garden shed and proudly watching her daffodil bulbs blooms come to life in Spring.
After living most of their married life in the suburbs of Sydney, Keith and Kerry searched for a suitable country retreat to semi-retire and eight years ago settled on a three-acre property positioned in a quiet cul de sac at Woodville, near Paterson.   Kerry’s lifetime dream of having a large rambling garden was about to become a reality.

Harbour side Luxury
On the purchase of this waterfront penthouse apartment the owners undertook a major renovation engaging an innovative interior designer to set about the transformation and engaging a team of talented tradespeople unfazed by the logistics of its lofty position overlooking Newcastle Harbour.
There were only a few client criterias CarMel Gibson from CarMel Interior Design had to address to the ten-year-old apartment and the rest was just to bring the Penthouse up-to-date with a modern and luxurious standard which it deserved.
The owners, a local professional couple had a young extended family and needed plenty of room for them all to come together and enjoy lots of wonderful family get together and dinners.
The penthouse was to be the meeting place for all to enjoy with the best views Newcastle’s great working harbour had to offer.

Historic Trail Yields Culinary Secrets
Unlike many of the region’s more famous food and wine trails, the Bucketts Way does not readily yield its secrets to passers by.  Increasingly popular with northbound travellers, weekend escapees and coastal day trippers, the thoroughfare is fringed with a rich array of authentic local food and wine experiences.  Tess Hilleard recently spent time unearthing the area’s providores, discovering a surprising diversity on offer.  When you first turn from the helter-skelter of the Pacific Highway onto the Bucketts Way you can’t help but relax your grip on the steering wheel.  The open country road, meandering through a pleasing patchwork of impossibly green hills, rural vistas and quaint villages, provides a perfect juxtaposition to the chaos of the freeway.

ACROSS THE ERAS
Walking down the pathway of "Canningalla Homestead" located in the Upper Williams River district of Dungog is taking a trip into the region's past – it would appear that little has changed since it was built in 1891.  However, it’s the wafting perfume of the heirloom fragrant roses which gives a nostalgic memory of those days gone by.
The current owner is Bill Dowling, the fifth generation Dowling to have lived most of his life on the land first settled by his ancestor James Dowling who arrived in the colony from England in 1828 to take up an appointment as a Supreme Court Judge in Sydney town.

Life and time... a melanoma survival story
Peter Lynn has all the trappings of a life being lived to the fullest … a cosy waterfront home at Coal Point on Lake Macquarie, runabout at the bottom of the garden and a camper trailer in the driveway. Family photographs adorn the walls and bench tops, grandchildren mostly, and his wife Margaret nestles into a chair contentedly going about her knitting.
At 67 Peter appears in rude health. Smooth of complexion, stocky of build and spritely of step, sharp as a tack. But the retired accountant knows better than most he has been fortunate, so far, to dodge a melanoma bullet.