A HOMESTEAD TALE

Set in idyllic countryside, this robust and sprawling home in northern NSW wraps itself around a young family and their highly active lives.

- Chris Pearson

The sight of youngsters riding their scooters or playing cricket in the hallways reveals two things about this handsome home near Lake Macquarie, NSW: with seven bedrooms, it’s humungous, but it’s also earthy and without pretension. It welcomes the rough and tumble of a young family and a scuffed skirting never brings a reprimand.

When their parents, Lauren and Paul Lambess, first set their eyes on the original weatherboard homestead in 2014, they were instantly smitten. “We fell in love with the 120-year-old house,” says Lauren. “It was charming, with beautiful gardens and plenty of outdoor space for our family to grow up in. Nestled into the foothills of the Watagans National Park, the valleys here are always green and lush, and wildlife is plentiful too.”

But soon the house was bursting at the seams with a growing family that now comprises Winnie 12, Arthur, nine, Charlie, seven, and Tori, five, together with border collie Monty, cat Suki and assorted chickens, pigs, rabbits and finches.

In 2017, the couple asked architect Kevin Snell to enlarge the home, but he did so in an intriguing way. “We needed space for us all to move easily and efficiently throughout the daily routines of school, work and our various interests,” says Lauren, “but also to draw us together for meals and family time.” While spacious, it also had to be warm and inviting.