Crafting queen Tonia Todman to offload historic farmhouse
Australian TV personality and ‘queen of craft’ Tonia Todman has listed the historic home she and her husband renovated after it was hit by a devastating fire.
Known for her appearances on Good Morning Australia, Healthy, Wealthy and Wise and Making It Australia, Todman and her husband Michael Dowding bought the home in Kyneton, Victoria, in 2004.
She said buying the home was “a moment of total madness, probably”.
“It was on the market for 18 months, as every viewer was frightened by the amount of work it needed,” she said.
After transforming the nearly-200-year-old home into a “very happy house”, Todman went on to host cooking, craft and gardening classes from their English-style gardens and invite over 100 guests on special occasions.
However, the house was partially burnt down in a 2018 fire after the old roof shingles heated up near a chimney.
What followed were “four years of anguish” as the couple undertook an extensive rebuild, using materials salvaged from the home, including chimney bricks on the herringbone floor and bluestone behind the fireplaces, and moving back in at the end of 2020.
“I said to my architect, if he didn’t give me a proper workable laundry, I’d never speak to him again,” Todman joked.
Along with a first-class laundry, the home boasts soaring ceilings, a library with a Cheminees Philippe fireplace, a main bedroom with a walk-in wardrobe and ensuite, and stunning views of Mt Macedon and Daylesford from the verandah.
The property also includes a self-contained cottage, a barn built in 1848, an orchard, two pears trees that are 130 years old, and the “Hilton of chicken houses”.
It also makes frequent appearances across Todman’s social media, including snaps of the media star weeding with her grandkids, cooking in her kitchen, and updates from the restoration of the home.
RT Edgar Macedon Ranges-Kyneton agent Jodie Alcaraz said the house matches “the warmth of Tonia and Michael” and is “comfortable”.
“You feel comfortable here, the aspect out to the garden is just a picture,” she said.
The four-hectare property has been listed with a price range between $2.9 and $3.1 million.
Images: @toniatodman (Instagram) / realestate.com.au