Renovations underway at Sunrise presenter Edwina Bartholomew's farm stay

Renovations underway at Sunrise presenter Edwina Bartholomew's farm stay
Jonathan ChancellorDecember 7, 2020

The Sunrise presenter Edwina Bartholomew and her fiancee, writer Neil Varcoe are soon accepting guests at their farm at Glen Alice, west of the Blue Mountains.

The past year has been a busy time for the couple of six years, having renovating their 1890s farm house, Warramba along with resting and rejuvenating the land. 

They paid $430,000 for the charming 19th century sandstone cottage through Mudgee agent Peter Druitt.

It's been since redesigned with the help of one of Edwina's school friends, Felicity Slattery from Melbourne's Studio Esteta.

They have the farm stay website up and running, with plans to build a farm stay cabin over summer.

The couple have also teamed up with events company Under Sky to offer a glamping experience.

Her Channel Seven colleagues haven't been up to the retreat yet, however they'll be their for Bartholomew and Varcoe's nuptials next year.

The property is just outside Lithgow where Varcoe grew up, some 225 kilometres from Sydney in the Central Tablelands.

The home was restored by a previous owner with a stonemason using sandstone from the same quarry on the Huntington estate that the original stone was drawn from.

Neil and Edwina have welcomed a fold of Scottish Highland Cattle — the oldest registered breed in the world - who have been named Billy Connolly; Ewan McGregor; Susan Boyle; Annie Lennox, Tilda Swinton and Shirley Manson.

"We get down there every spare minute we have."

Bartholomew said they get to the farm whenever possible from their Sydney base, a recently purchase Dulwich Hill home.

They settled on the 1870s terrace earlier this year, just before they announced their engagement.

Spending around $1.5 million, the three bedroom home is another doer-upper, according to Edwina.

It takes three hours to get to the farm.

"It would be too far for some people but we absolutely love it.

"We rarely turn the radio on and just use the time to catch up."

Kangaroos, wombats, goannas, birds — including the endangered Regent Honeyeater — frequent the farm.

Bartholomew began her career in the TV industry when she won a Sunrise intern competition where she progressed from making coffee to producing the show.

She covered the Beijing Olympics for the Seven Network (and reported for Seven News) before signing on as Sunrise's Sydney correspondent replacing Simon Reeve.

This article first appeared in the Daily Telegraph.

Jonathan Chancellor

Jonathan Chancellor is one of Australia's most respected property journalists, having been at the top of the game since the early 1980s. Jonathan co-founded the property industry website Property Observer and has written for national and international publications.

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