This is the sort of place that ought to be two hours from anywhere. It isn't. It sits just past the point where Mornington stops being suburban, under ten minutes from the beach, Main Street and Peninsula Link. An orchard meets you on the way in, and a mix of evergreens and deciduous trees carries through the block, which is exactly the setting the home's Mediterranean bones and rustic finish were asking for.
Living runs through the middle: two living areas, dining off the kitchen, and doors to both sides of the house, opening to the pergola on one and the pool and covered, decked alfresco on the other. The kitchen is built to be cooked in, and the 1200mm De'Longhi cooktop under twin rangehoods settles the matter. Bedrooms bookend it. The ensuited main sits at the front with a second bedroom beside it, then two more at the back, including a generous room with walk-in robe.
Outside, the machinery shed is the genuine farm article, down to the closed-off room that has handled everything from curing cheese to the annual passata batch. In addition, a double garage with storage lean-to, a chicken coop & run, a shipping container, wood and hay storage, stables and the paddocks, fenced in equine mesh with an offset electric wire: everything needed to run the property whichever way you decide to run it.
The chooks, ponies and calves aren't included in the sale. They are, however, adorable.