The journey started for me 6 years ago, after a visit to a friend’s farm …
We were out visiting friends on their new property on the outskirts of Goulburn. Lulu, our second born, was a toddler at the time, and I was in awe of her curiosity and how at peace she seemed in the world of dirt, trees, tractors, and chickens (she spent two hours quite happily sitting in the chicken coup!).
Lulu was diagnosed with Down’s Syndrome at 8 weeks of age, and ever since then we were in a world of unknowns … will she be able to talk? Walk? Go to school? Live an independent life? … so seeing her in an environment where I could literally see her exploring the world and learning from nature made my heart swell with hope. It was in one of these moments when I glanced over at my husband, he gave me a knowing smile. Lyntton grew up on farms and had been trying to convince me over the past few years to give our kids the same experience. Seeing it firsthand, I was now convinced.
When we got back home, we immediately started searching for our little piece of paradise.
Our dream bubble got a little deflated when it became apparent that there was NO WAY we would be able to afford ANY land where we currently lived on the NSW South Coast. So, we started looking further afield – Tasmania, Tumbulgum, Taree! – for one reason or another we couldn’t find our perfect fit.
Around this time, Lyntton and one of his best mates, Dave, hatched a plan to start a distillery/brewery together (every mans dream I’m sure ha-ha). Lyntton was no longer able to fly in his profession as a pilot, so he was looking to explore an passion of his .. whisky. And what better way to do it than making it !!
So here we were in 2016 with BIG dreams … and nowhere to turn them into reality. Save winning lotto, all we could do was put it out there and hope that “the perfect piece of land will come our way”.
Many months passed and our plans were feeling more and more elusive .. until the day Lyntton was approached by a member of our community who said “I think of got the perfect piece of land for you” … WHAAAAAT !?
Turns out, my husband’s constant yabber to anyone who would listen about his farming and whisky future had fallen on the ears of local farmer Mark Honey. His family had established one of the first farms in the area, I had grown up and gone to school with his son’s Tom and Ben. Small world.
There was an old dairy on the property that he’s looked into converting into a brewery, but at the latter end of his life, he’d decided that it would be too much work to get up and running. On hearing Lyntton’s dreams, he thought he might be able to see it come to fruition and help our family get the ‘farm life’ we’d been searching for at the same time.
This marked the start of our dream becoming a reality.
It also marked the start of MANY meetings, research, reports, and money being spent on something that may or may not be able to happen. But we figured it was worth the risk. If we could pull this off, not only would we be able to live our family ‘farm life’, but we’d have an amazing space for the distillery/brewery too. What’s more, we could grow all our ingredients (for the beer, whisky & kitchen) on site.
What followed were many loooong days and nights of trying to get this venture over the line. There were many ups and downs. Some days where we thought we were sooo close, only to be told we needed to submit another report (and say goodbye to another $6,000!) but, 837 DAYS after our initial meeting with council, we FINALLY received the news we’d be waiting (and hoping for) DA APPROVAL !!
It’s taken 6 long years, but Windmill Farm is now the dream that has been turned into our reality. And we couldn’t be happier.
There are other people on this journey – my husband, our kids, our partners Dave & Kaz – you’ll hear from them soon…
Jade xx