Vineyard Dream
Craving a simpler life, Cassie and Chris Payne walked away from high-pressure jobs in Los Angeles to build their dream home on a Tamar Valley vineyard. Cheers to that!
Words Casey Hutton / Photography Coastpark Creative / Styling Cassie Payne
Interior design Lydia Maskiell / Build Inhabit Construction / Building Designer Woodbury & Co
Taking in the view from their home at Glendale Estate, north-west of Launceston, Cassie Payne is caring for new baby Ziggy and reflecting on vineyard life. “Our days are packed,” she admits.
Between running the boutique vineyard and farm, holding tastings at its cellar door, and facilitating a full calendar of weddings and events, there’s never a dull moment for the Payne family. “Right now we’re also knee-deep in pressing our freshly fermented pinot noir.”
Ziggy is baby number four for Cassie and Chris, joining Leo (7), Lennox (5), and Lulu (3). Though the days are busy, Cassie says they wouldn’t trade it for their old life in the States. “We were both entrenched in high-stress corporate jobs, and we yearned for a simpler, purpose-filled life in a more natural environment.”
Chris is from Tasmania originally, making it an obvious choice for a change of pace. When they viewed a quaint vineyard in Sidmouth with buildings dating back to the 1800s, they were enamoured immediately and submitted an offer the same day. They’ve since renovated multiple structures on the property, transforming the old apple-packing shed into a cellar door and the apple-pickers’ hut into a delightful Airbnb cottage.
The couple worked with building designers Woodbury & Co, builder Inhabit Construction, and interior designer Lydia Maskiell to overhaul the estate’s 1940s ranch-style farmhouse, gutting and extending it to capitalise on the property’s sublime views.
Timber plays a starring role in the home’s design. Spotted-gum cladding lends the exterior a modern flavour and simultaneously connects it to the land and its history. “The existing heritage buildings had these beautiful rustic silver timber facades that I wanted to honour,” Cassie explains. “It was crucial to maintain harmony between the old and the new.”
Inside, wood panelling on the kitchen’s raked ceiling and walls elevates the space. Interior designer Lydia Maskiell refers to the home’s timber elements, including its elegant herringbone flooring, as “the middleman that breaks the starkness and adds warmth”, while black accents anchor and refine the palette.
In the formal dining room, a marble fireplace commands the space, while arched door openings frame views to the rolling hills beyond. “A series of arches and rounded forms throughout the home balance and soften the harsher straight edges,” Lydia adds.
This balanced approach is echoed in Cassie’s styling choices, where natural materials such as rattan, shearling sheepskin, leather and linen are layered beneath the elegant geometry of sleek black windows and the artful arrangement of contrasting light fixtures.
Just as the home’s exterior was conceived of as something that will weather beautifully as time goes on, its interior was designed to accommodate growth and change; the children’s rooms have built-in desks, storage is plentiful, and the versatile pool house can accommodate guests or function as an extra living zone.
The house feels expansive yet nurturing – perhaps a fitting metaphor for Cassie and Chris’s Tasmanian gear shift. While balancing entrepreneurship with parenting little people has its challenges, Cassie explains that the children genuinely love helping with farm life: “It makes our daily routines fun and exciting. The beauty of owning our business lies in the freedom to incorporate the whole family into our work.”
