READ MORE: River Cottage up for sale
The new owner of the River Cottage Australia property at Central Tilba is 36-year-old Sydney builder Tristan Diethelm and his dog Paddo.
The property was listed on the market by previous owner KEO Films Australia after the filming of the television show at Tilba came to an end.
Mr Diethelm said he has only watched the first series of the show so far, but it was enough for him to make the connection when browsing through properties for sale on the South Coast. He was also taken with the listing of the Silvermere property at nearby Corunna Lake.
“I’ve always been interested in buying a block of land outside of Sydney and watching the series, the town of Tilba and that area was definitely on my radar,” he said. “It’s very picturesque landscape and it looked great on television.”
After looking around the northern coast of NSW, he decided that the South Coast was a much better option.
His other South Coast connection to the Narooma Tilba area is that he used to work for hospitality mogul Justin Hemmes, who recently purchased the Glasshouse Rocks property just south of Narooma for a reported $7.5 million.
Mr Hemmes’ plans are to turn the “farm” into a nature retreat and Mr Diethelm would like to do something similar.
“I used to work for Justin Hemmes, and the house I'm currently building in Sydney is design by Nick Tobias practice,” Mr Diethelm said. “All indications show having part the South Coast is a good decision.”
Initially Mr Diethelm plans to use River Cottage as a bit of a weekend getaway for himself and friends, but he said his long-term plan was to do so alteration and improvements to the farmhouse and outbuildings, possibly making it available for holiday letting.
“I aim to make something quite unique and something that fits in with Tilba and what the show was all about,” he said about his plans to do up the bedroom and maybe even turning the old silos into rooms.
He had been inspired recently by fashion designer Colleen Dinnigan’s Milton Surf & Stables property that is now listed on the Airbnb holiday letting service.
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Stan Gorton
Walkley-nominated journalist based at The Islander on Kangaroo Island with an interest in the local community and the environment.
Walkley-nominated journalist based at The Islander on Kangaroo Island with an interest in the local community and the environment.
