To live a simple life takes a lot of work," Lyall Burgoyne says.
He and his wife, Susie, have lived for more than 20 years on just under two acres in Mount Vincent.
They have completely transformed the property from an empty field to a thriving garden and orchard full of citrus trees, figs, avocados, stone fruit, nuts and more.
Here they have a saltwater pool and 42 raised garden beds all in production. The property is what they now call Sevasti's Hideaway. Sevasti is Susie's Greek name.
Along with raising children - and copious produce - they began offering short to medium-term accommodation a few years ago.
The guest cabin is next to their home and sleeps up to four. Here, when they're not welcoming their extended family, the Burgoynes accommodate travellers, host weddings and hold workshops.
"As you come in the driveway you are treated as family," Lyall says.
"We supply breakfast and you can cook it yourself.
"We meet dietary requirements. Vegetarian, coeliac, vegan, nothing is a problem."
They bought the property when Lyall was a welfare worker.
"I brought a client out here for a drive to calm him down. Saw a 'for sale' sign. Susie says it was destiny," Lyall says.
They moved in and have been working on their home and land ever since.
Part of our passion is to teach kids where their foods come from.
Susie is a school teacher. After two spinal injuries, Lyall decided to make the property his full-time occupation.
"With Lyall's medical issues, as soon as you say you have a back injury, no one will take you on board," Susie says.
"We wanted him to have an income, but also a purpose. There was no reason why he couldn't work."
And work Lyall does. Along with time in the garden, he built the second house with Susie's brother, Nick, in 2015. They worked on it every Sunday. Sadly, Nick passed away last year.
"It was like a family get-together where you produce something and you had fun, that was the main thing," Lyall says.
Since then, the house has been first and foremost for friends and family, but they've also rented it out to more than 400 guests, many from overseas. Because of COVID-19 and Lyall's latest surgery they had to temporarily close. But they have reopened. Not only do guests get to enjoy a clean and cheerful unit with all the amenities, they can experience the couple's passion for gardening.
Lyall is from Speers Point and Susie from Sydney. Both of them grew up gardening and advocating for growing and cooking your own food. Some of their children also experienced food allergies, which furthered the Burgoyne's passion. Lyall planted a carob tree after they realised their daughter had a chocolate allergy.
"Lyall and I, part of our passion is to teach kids where their foods come from. Stephanie Alexander is a chef and she started a kitchen garden program where you take kids through growing their food, then harvesting, preparing and sharing. It's what we ended up doing," Susie says of a program she also implemented at her school.
Lyall was employed one day a week to work with Susie. He would take half the class and do planting and harvesting, and she'd cook with some of the parents.
They'd set up the table to invite the gardeners in to eat.
These days Lyall's the main man outside.
They say 99 per cent of what they grow is edible.
"The rest are Australian natives, and wildlife love it," Lyall says.
They have nine different avocado trees, black sapote, also known as chocolate pudding fruit, white sapote, yellow sapote and more.
"There are eight feijoas; you can eat the white petals of the leaf," Lyall says.
"I'm growing coffee, lemon myrtle, cinnamon myrtle, quince, six different varieties of mulberry trees. Five or six macadamia trees."
The pair are happy they're back in business and can't wait to share their love of their land with others.
To learn more about their property search for Sevasti's Hideway online.
The author was a guest of Sevasti's Hideaway
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