Here is a church, here is a steeple and here is a church you’ll fall in LOVE with people! The Little Church at Spring Hill Peony Farm. Photo/Production – Danielle White/The Countryphiles.
Oozing authentic rustic charm a timber gate leads into the church grounds. The Little Church is for hire for weddings, parties, anything you might have in mind that requires LOADS of wonderful ATMOSPHERE! Photo/Production – Danielle White/The Countryphiles.
Nature’s colours and textures create an inimitable palette. It’s a stylist’s DREAM location. Photo/Production – Danielle White/The Countryphiles.
So simple and so simply divine. Photo/Production – Danielle White/The Countryphiles.
The Little Church at Spring Hill Peony Farm is photogenic from every angle! Photo/Production – Danielle White/The Countryphiles.
Timeless. Ageless. Simplicity makes this little church so wonderfully CHARMING and the PERFECT backdrop for a wedding, party, anything! Photo/Production – Danielle White/The Countryphiles.
Oh LORDY! Like a blushing newly-wed, The Little Church at Spring Hill Peony Farm has opened its sweet timber doors after sitting peacefully in private ownership for 55 years! The Countryphiles is feeling just a little bit chuffed to be able to photograph this beauty because it has only just hosted its very first wedding.
Owners, Nicky & Mac Barry purchased and renovated The Little Church last year adding its charm and function to their already MAGICAL Spring Hill Peony Farm (which features, by the way, on The Countryphiles later in the year). Peonies + Church. Now there’s a match made in HEAVEN!
Formerly St Mark’s Church of England, The Little Church was built in the 1890s in Spring Hill – a lesser-known but no lesser-loved HAMLET in the Macedon Ranges on the edge of the Wombat State Forest (somewhere on the beaten tracks between Kyneton, Trentham, Woodend and Glenlyon). In its hey-day, the building was used as a school-house as well as a church but it was deconsecrated in 1958 and privately owned ever since until the opportunity arose for Nicky and Mac to buy it.
Some people might be a little daunted at the thought of restoring and knowing what to do with a church, but Nicky just happens to be a very talented architect so the restoration project was always in safe hands. And, as it turned out, less was definitely more when it came to prettying up the The Little Church. The Countryphiles sings your praises Nicky & Mac! It’s just perfect! AND the best part is … The Little Church is available for hire!
So, where is SPRING HILL exactly? This sign post might help you get your bearings – then again, it might not! Spring Hill is only an hour north of MELBOURNE! Photo/Production – Danielle White/The Countryphiles.
The finished project. Little bush churches don’t get any more PICTURESQUE than this! Photo/Production – Danielle White/The Countryphiles.
Like Sentinels guarding the Royal Palace, stately Eucalypts watch over The Little Church. Photo/Production – Danielle White/The Countryphiles.
The RUSTIC architecture looks as lovely today as I imagine it would have the day it was built. Photo/Production – Danielle White/The Countryphiles.
With such an ENDEARING canvas very little else is needed to transform the church into a joyous space in which to CELEBRATE with family and friends. Photo/Production – Danielle White/The Countryphiles.
A cast iron font filled with flower petal confetti awaits the married couple. Photo/Production – Danielle White/The Countryphiles.
Pull up a pew! It was lovely to sit a while and soak up the serenity of this lovely space. I can only imagine how JOYOUS it must feel to walk down THAT isle with friends and family either side! Photo/Production – Danielle White/The Countryphiles.
These stunning flowers were arranged by Tonia Todman for Eleanor + Jake’s wedding – the first wedding to be held in The Little Church since Nicky & Mac reopened its doors earlier this year. Simple. Classic. Elegant. CELEBRATORY. What more does a bride and her groom need! Photo/Production – Danielle White/The Countryphiles.
A vintage Chapel Organ adds oodles of atmosphere. Photo/Production – Danielle White/The Countryphiles.
Sitting pretty and adjacent to the CHARMING church is a modern, aesthetically harmonious building that clients and their guests use as the function area. Nicky and Mac say the ideal number of guests is somewhere between 40 and 60 and weddings, parties, anythings held at The Little Church during PEONY season (from early to mid November through to mid to late December) have the added pleasure of being able to pick much sought after and much ADORED peonies from the paddock and include them in their flower arrangements. Who amongst us doesn’t SWOON at the sight of PEONIES in full bloom!
This little church awaits lotsa new LOVE so it can’t possibly be kept a secret any longer – it’s far too DIVINE! So endeth The Countryphiles’ lesson – I need preach no more! Enjoy it for yourselves! x
The pitched roof of the reception space echoes but does not intrude upon the delightful church STEEPLE. Photo/Production – Danielle White/The Countryphiles.
Modern aesthetics and clean lines let The Little Church shine. Photo/Production – Danielle White/The Countryphiles.
Inside, the reception space is fresh and light-filled with lovely views that allow guests to soak up the ambience of the bush setting while staying cosy inside. Photo/Production – Danielle White/The Countryphiles.
Lovely touches bring a woodland aesthetic indoors. Photo/Production – Danielle White/The Countryphiles.
All you could ever need. I think I could LIVE here! Photo/Production – Danielle White/The Countryphiles.
Ooh, what a wonderful blank canvas for any wedding and party planner or STYLIST! Photo/Production – Danielle White/The Countryphiles.
The effervescent and extraordinarily talented owners of The Little Church – Nicky & Mac. Photo- supplied. Production – Danielle White/The Countryphiles.
Guests mingle at The Little Church‘s first wedding of Eleanor + Jake. Photo – supplied. Production – Danielle White/The Countryphiles.
Betwixt the church and the reception – sure beats driving from pillar to post! Photo – supplied. Production – Danielle White/The Countryphiles.
And, HEAVENS ABOVE, if this isn’t the pièce de résistance …
Eleanor + Jake. The very first bride and groom to celebrate their wedding in The Little Church since its opening earlier in the year. Something tells me The Little Church will host OODLES of beautiful weddings and celebrations for many many years to come. AND, I have no doubt it will be a stylist’s and photographer’s paradise too. This superb photo of Eleanor + Jake emerging from the church as husband and wife on their wedding day was taken by Erin & Tara Photography. Thanks E&T! Production – Danielle White/The Countryphiles.
Tell us a little bit about your background – what path led you to where you are now?
We are both from farming families; I’m from the Otways near Apollo Bay and Mac’s family was from Baynton. I think it was quite natural we ended up here.
You own Spring Hill Peony Farm and have recently converted a little bush church into a wedding and private function venue as well as having ‘day jobs’ and two children! How do you manage to juggle these various intertwined ventures/adventures?
Mac: Nicky and I talk on the phone a lot but we all usually manage to have dinner together, which is when we catch up on the adventures of the day. Now the kids are a bit older they are amusing contributors to the conversations. However, the best jobs are when we are all working together, gardening, mowing, feeding stock and the endless list of jobs that comes with 100 acres and a peony farm!
Nicky: Recently I realised I was holding down four jobs and it did surprise me the amount of work I was getting done. Not only a mother to 5-year old twins, but running my Architecture practice, making sure the farm animals were cared for, running the Spring Hill Peony Farm and the Little Church businesses, which both require endless marketing and sales time. The only way I manage to do it is with an A4 book of ‘to-do’ lists. That’s the only thing in the book; list of things I have to do and there is a new list every week. Mac and I also have to sit together once a week and cross check our diaries so we know what we have separately agreed to do.
Do you consider yourselves to be ‘Countryphile/s’? Do you love country life? Why?
Mac: I am lucky because I always knew what I wanted to be – a farmer – and although we are not traditional farmers we still get to wake to the sound of cockatoos, magpies and our friendly rooster. We can drive around without stopping at traffic lights and usually get a park out the front of the shop we want. People have time to stop and chat and seem happier than their city counterparts. There is an ancient gum tree next to the old church that is so big a family couldn’t put linked arms around it. In winter, the South Westerly can cut you in half and the frosts lie thick on the grass. The open fire makes a glass of red taste better. In Spring, the grass grows thick and green and the Peonies wake up. The cold mornings disappear. The horses lose their winter coats and start to shine. These are some of the ‘whys’!
Nicky: Mac and I both left Melbourne straight after school to go to country Universities and never returned. When we met, both of us were struggling with the idea of having to live in Melbourne’s suburbs even though it is a great city and our families were there. So the idea of living an hour north west of Melbourne was quite appealing. I love driving though all the beautiful areas, catching amazing vistas just while I am doing my everyday tasks like driving the kids to school in Trentham. I also like seeing friends or people we know when we go to the supermarket or buy petrol.
What does a typical day in the life of Nicky & Mac Peony Farmers/Venue Owners look like; from when you wake to when you go to sleep?
Mac: There really is no typical day, however, there are common themes. Coffee is always at the beginning and it can really go anywhere from there. Much of the work is seasonal so in spring it’s the flowers, which could mean picking, packing or selling at farmers’ markets. In winter, we are digging up the roots to sell, while autumn is the best season because there is some down time. The Little Church is just in its infancy as a venue so I’d expect once this is in full swing there might well be no down time at all!
Nicky: Week days are pretty much like everyone else’s, rushing the kids to school, returning home and getting stuck into my work, which ever has the priority and its always different. This morning was burying one of our 10-week-old chicks that had died due to the cold snap and checking the horses after the storm, lighting the fire and get on with my architecture work. Weekends are more fun. We do farm work altogether ’til early afternoon, then get out in the region and explore. The evenings are often spend with our wonderful mixed group of friends and their kids.
What aspect of country life are you loving MOST at the moment?
Mac: The change of season, from Summer to Autumn.
Nicky: Every Autumn I get surprised by how beautiful the autumn leaves are and the vast array of colour they produce. The leaves are now falling off the trees so the colour is also spread on the ground. It really is picturesque.
What do you consider the most CHALLENGING aspects of country life?
Mac: Running out of milk and bread.
Nicky: Running out of water in the tank and running out of gas. The worst is when the power goes off, which happens a lot at Spring Hill, and with the pump out you have no drinking water, can’t flush the WC.
Do you prefer Coffee or Tea? Your favourite country café and why?
Mac: Coffee for sure. Best coffee is St Beans Provedore in Piper St and Monsieur Pierre in Mollison St.
Nicky: The best coffee recently was at the Newham General Store, but for my regular stop it is always Red Beard Bakery in Trentham.
What and where was the last great meal you enjoyed/shared in the country?
Mac: Nicky’s Friday night Laksa around the table with close friends at home.
Nicky: Annie Smither’s new place in Trentham ‘du Fermier‘. It was just a light lunch, but the flavours were amazing!
Where would we find you on a typical Saturday morning?
Nicky: In the peony paddock
Mac: In the peony paddock.
YOUR country town’s best kept secret?
Mac: If I tell you it’s no longer a secret.
Nicky: Mac is referring to some waterfalls we found recently and we haven’t told anyone.
What can we expect NEXT from you/your business in the future?
Mac: We might just chill for a bit now but there is a long term plan to breed and own the Melbourne Cup winner.
Nicky: Mac and I are social people so we are planning a launch for the Little Church in Spring and we are working on making the Spring Hill Peony Farm Paddock Open Days more substantial so our guests can have a picnic on the Church lawn after picking peonies from the paddock.
What are you looking FORWARD to and why?
Nicky: I’m quite enjoying the cold after such a long warm Summer and Autumn. Open fires with music and red wine and funny conversations are just a joy.
What would be your dream project?
Mac: Start breeding racehorses again, but fast ones this time.
Nicky: The Little Church has been my dream project. Getting it up and running has combined all my learned skills as an architect, farmer, MBA studies, sales and years in the hospitality industry. I find it so enjoyable it doesn’t really seem like a job.
Can you list for us 5 specific things you turn to/do when you need of a ‘dose’ of city life?
Mac & Nicky:
1. Footy – Nothing beats being part of 80,000 screaming madness at the MCG
2. Racing – Spring Carnival for getting dressed up and diving into the Champagne River
3. Family – Visiting both our families for family get-togethers
4. Vic Market – Stocking up on fresh vegies, meat and fish
5. Victoria Street – For a good dose of Vietnamese food and asian groceries that we can’t buy in the country
Nicky & Mac Barry
The Little Church
m. 0438 567 604
You can take more of a peek at Eleanor + Jake’s dreamy country wedding celebrations at The Little Church on Erin & Tara’s blog.
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