Curiosity led Channel Seven Sunrise presenter Edwina Bartholomew and Neil Varcoe to an idyllic sandstone cottage at a farm in Capertee Valley, NSW.
While completing a quiz in the weekend paper, the couple were asked to name the widest canyon in the world and were surprised to find it was located a three-hour drive from their Sydney base.
“To be honest, we hadn’t really heard of the Capertee Valley before, though Neil was vaguely familiar with the area because he grew up in Lithgow [45 kilometres south],” Edwina, 35, explains.
Warramba was recently given a stunning upgrade, including a new website and an outdoor pool. The property is available for holiday stays and sleeps six guests.
For more information, visit the official Warramba website, or book a stay via Airbnb.
Stay at Warramba
Edwina Bartholomew and Neil Varcoe, along with blue heeler Mate, at their 1890s sandstone farmhouse in rural NSW. (Photography: Marnie Hawson | Styling: Hannah Brady)
Coincidentally, Edwina and Neil, 37, who is a digital media executive, had been looking for a rural bolthole where they could gather with friends and family to escape their busy working lives.
Suitably intrigued, they began an online search for properties in the area and soon stumbled across a quaint but neglected farmhouse.
The canvas stretcher on the verandah is from Provincial Home Living. The garden has to fend for itself most days while enduring blistering summers and frosty winters, so the couple sought advice about hardy, low-maintenance plants from native landscaping experts Wariapendi Nursery in the Southern Highlands. (Photography: Marnie Hawson | Styling: Hannah Brady)
Despite the valley’s topographical credentials, Edwina says after driving over the Blue Mountains they were totally unprepared for the impact the landscape would have on them.
“You are surrounded by these incredible escarpments on either side, so we were just blown away by the scenery.
But I think it was the beautiful sandstone house that we fell in love with. We love that it sits in a valley, not on a hill, so you can’t see in from the road.”
Mate is king of the house. “He has both of us wrapped around his little paws,” says Edwina. A 60th anniversary Spanish Chair from Great Dane and a side table from Jumbled in Orange, NSW. (Photography: Marnie Hawson | Styling: Hannah Brady)
After some real-estate wrangling (there was another buyer in the wings) they purchased the 42-hectare property — which they named Warramba — in January 2016.
They then began renovation preparations on the farmhouse in earnest: pulling up the old linoleum, removing the curtains and fixtures, and dismantling the fireplace.
“We didn’t have flyscreens at this point and we ended up with a bug plague inside!” Edwina says. “We also had a green tree frog living in the loo but he moved on, thankfully.”
A weathered brass tap from Brodware and Le Creuset kettle. (Photography: Marnie Hawson | Styling: Hannah Brady)
Having talked to locals about the history of the home — originally a shearer’s cottage on a property called Huntingdale, which was once owned by the grandson of pioneer settler Sir John Jamison — Edwina says it was important that the changes were sympathetic to the original structure.
“It needed a bit of TLC but the bones were still wonderful, so we certainly haven’t changed anything on the outside. The only real change was to make the bathroom a bit bigger, and we also had to replace all the floors.”
“The green canvas chair belonged to my grandfather who took it to Egypt in World War II,” says Edwina. The canteen hanging off it is from a Japanese antique market. (Photography: Marnie Hawson | Styling: Hannah Brady)
Today, the interior of the home is a subtle mix of neutral tones with natural timber, stone and lots of different textures.
“We wanted something reflective of our tastes — quite modern but classic at the same time,” Edwina says. “I was determined to have a bookshelf that covered the whole wall and I really wanted a beautiful bath.”
Felicity Slattery of Studio Esteta completed the interior renovation, including enlarging the bathroom for the must-have bath. The talented builders from Pirie Homes custom-made the shutters, which were inspired by a holiday Edwina took to Greece. (Photography: Marnie Hawson | Styling: Hannah Brady)
The land surrounding the farmhouse has seen major changes, too, with Neil becoming an “accidental farmer” and overseeing the construction of new roads, fences, farm sheds, water tanks and troughs.
“I knew nothing about farming… my father was a coal miner in Lithgow and my mum was a midwife,” he says. “We leaned over a lot of fences at the beginning, and sought out experts not opinions.
Now, we have a couple of people we can call on to test ideas and answer the kinds of questions only experience knows.”
Edwina enjoys her time off at the farm. (Photography: Marnie Hawson | Styling: Hannah Brady)
The renovation took just four months and the couple proudly shared their efforts with 160 guests at their wedding in April last year.
“It was a real country wedding as everyone pitched in,” says Edwina. “We had generators running out of petrol and beautiful organised chaos everywhere.”
Mate keeps watch outside a bell tent from Homecamp. Similar tents are available to stay in at Warramba. (Photography: Marnie Hawson | Styling: Hannah Brady)
With the nuptials over, the couple now retreat to the property to recharge with their two-year-old blue heeler Mate who “swaggers between city cafés and his country life of chasing kangaroos and doing a very average job of rounding up cattle,” Edwina says.
When she’s not weeding the garden (“it’s very therapeutic”), Edwina can usually be found reading in the living room.
“You can look out the window and see the seasons change. In summer, there is this lush grapevine that creates a beautiful dappled shadow, then in winter the leaves fall off and you can see right through to the mountains.”
Edwina relaxing on a leather sofa from Spence and Lyda. The cushions and ottoman were made from fabric purchased at a market in Japan.
(Photography: Marnie Hawson | Styling: Hannah Brady)
Edwina and Neil’s timber bookshelf was built by Pirie Homes.
(Photography: Marnie Hawson | Styling: Hannah Brady)Meanwhile, Neil’s favourite place is a secluded part of the property that took 12 months to find.
“It’s different to any other part of the property, it’s soft and cool and feels plucked from a children’s story,” he says. “The cattle found it first. There was an electrical storm and, afterwards, the entire fold was missing. I found them happily in this clearing, wondering what all the fuss was about.”
The couple purchased Reginald Warramba Varcoe the Land Rover from a man who started a spiced rum company. “He used to run rum around the city but now he carts hay,” Neil says.
(Photography: Marnie Hawson | Styling: Hannah Brady)
The couple’s popular Highland cattle. (Photography: Marnie Hawson | Styling: Hannah Brady)
Elsewhere on the property they recently joined forces with a neighbour to plant 4000 native trees that will create a bird habitat for the critically endangered Regent Honeyeater.
Well-known holistic bee keeper, Tim Malfroy of Malfroy’s Gold, is also bringing in around 15 natural beehives to encourage pollination.
“We’ve learnt a lot, but every day is a school day at Warramba, and that’s the magic of it,” Neil says.
Edwina wrapped Luna Lana lights from Stephanie Ng Design around an old branch in the bedroom. The bed linen is from Cultiver. (Photography: Marnie Hawson | Styling: Hannah Brady)
Magic also occurs when the sun dips west.
“Sometimes we have to pinch ourselves,” says Edwina. “Come about three or four o’clock the sun reflects off the escarpments and illuminates the whole valley in this amazing sandstone glow. Then the kangaroos start jumping and you think this is just ridiculous scenery to have!”
An assortment of botanical prints by Blue Mountains artist Edith Rewa. (Photography: Marnie Hawson | Styling: Hannah Brady)
The recently added mineral pool has been designed to be hot in winter and refreshingly cool in summer. (Photography: Marnie Hawson | Styling: Hannah Brady)
Prior to its sale in 2023, not at their country home, Edwina and her family resided in a storybook Sydney house that they lovingly renovated with the help of architecture and interior design practice, Studio Esteta and designer Kate Nixon.
Having originally purchased the property back in 2017, they listed it in February 2023 with Edwina sharing their plans to “buy another accommodation business in country NSW to complement Warramba”. Since, she and Neil have been undertaking the painstaking job of reviving Saltash Farm, an almost 150-year-old hotel in Carcoar.
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