Around one hundred years ago most of the south west of Australia was heavily wooded and then the
farmers from Europe started clearing the bush to enable them to grow crops and rear animals.
This was the case at Chestnut Brae. The land was cleared for grazing and a shed was constructed to milk
the cows. The house was constructed at the top of the garden. This was how the farm operated until
around 70 years ago when a fire came through and burnt the house town. The owners decided to
convert the milking parlour into a farm house. Over the next few years the farm house was added onto
and altered. This is one reason that there is not one consisted level between rooms.
When John and Linda purchased the farm the house needed a lot of love and attention. It was
dangerous to go up the upper level as the veranda was about to collapse..The kitchen floor was unstable
and the beams supporting it were almost rotten. We lived in the house in this state whilst we build the
new farm house next to the cottage and then started to renovate the cottage with a view that it would
become farm stay.
After loving renovation the one hundred year old farm stay is now a popular accommodation venue in
the south west.
The cottage has new decks both upstairs and down stairs. The kitchen floor has been replaced and the
whole cottage has been repainted to make it a feature on the property.
We get guests from around the world who use the farm stay as a central point to explore the region,
whilst others just enjoy the tranquillity of the farm and never leave the farm, they simply enjoy the
tranquilly.
The cottage has featured on number of TV programmes promoting the region.
Chestnut Brae is located 15km from Nannup where there are number of restaurants and coffee bars
where guests can get refreshments and meals if they do not want to cook for themselves in the cottage
or have a barbeque in the garden.
It is our hope that the cottage will be with us for many more years as guest accommodation. It has been
judged fourth three years running in the Tourism Awards finals.
