Kindred Spirits

This inviting home on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula takes country style to new heights.

- Janice Hogg

Transforming a horse paddock with a few scrubby trees into this spectacular five-bedroom resort-style home in Flinders, on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula was no mean feat. The creator of The Barn, developer and self-described tradie Troy Robinson, assembled a dream team of design and building talent to shape his project – which also includes a tennis court, landscaped gardens, guesthouse and swimming pool – from plans to reality. “Troy really only builds houses for himself,” says Lloyd Robinson, Troy’s father and collaborator. “It’s really important to him that he builds a house he would be happy to live in himself, and he often makes changes along the way that he believes would be beneficial to the property. So it’s quite an organic process in that way.”

Troy was on site with his kelpie mate Roo every day during the build, keeping an eagle eye on all aspects of the project. “I don’t build the properties myself. I subcontract all the work but I’m always on site. I change things often and rapidly as and when I want to, depending on what feels right to me. A property evolves like a piece of art. I was brought up in an artistic, energetic environment in a family of seven children so perhaps that’s why I see things differently.”