Head to South Gippsland to visit a box on a hill

Words Leah Sloss

The Riddell Family have fallen head over heels in love with their Foster North holiday house

For Katie and Hamish Riddell, the view of the stars from Dunbreck on Middleton is far brighter than the one they see from their city home — but the night skies are not the only drawcard for this Foster North holiday house.

“We wanted to get place to get away from the city,” Katie explains

Hailing from suburban Melbourne, Katie, Hamish and daughter Sophie relish the chance to escape the hustle and bustle of the daily city grind.

Cows, sheep and horses in the surrounding farm paddocks often come up to the fence line for a pat. The family are also visited by black cockatoos, wombats and wallabies. Eagles nest in the pine trees behind the house, and there are resident groucy koalas in the trees nearby.

The views are impressive, took streatching out in all directions: from Meeniyan to Warratah Bay, the Leongatha lights and sometimes the Inlet on a clear day.

But the clincher that draws them down to Foster North every 2-3 weeks is that this holiday house offers a space to escape to, a refuge, a space to recharge. Out here, there are no crowds or traffic; even the general competitiveness of life present in the city is conspicuously absent here.

“It’s changes us,” says Hamish

…and Katie agrees. Both have noticed that they’re calmer when not caught up in the pace and noise of the city, and the contrast is clear when they return to Melbourne.

A lot of work has gone in to creating a refuge of this prefab, one bedroom house.