This is a story of adventure and excitement and a move to a place of beauty, our beautiful lutruwita/Tasmania. It’s about a ‘sea change’ couple Peter Clarke and Charlie Ebell who ran a very successful restaurant, The Harley Street Brasserie, located in a stately Queenslander in Labrador, Queensland.
The Harley Street Brasserie house had originally been surrounded by a dairy farm stretching down to the Broadwater and belonged at a time as a house where Peter’s Aunt Glad lived. Whilst the restaurant was successful, life around the restaurant became very busy and commercial and didn’t offer the same experience anymore. The boys decided to move .
Having made the decision to move they purchased a property in Uki, a very spiritual place under the beautiful Wollumbin or Mount Warning as was named by the white settlers. “The name Wollumbin means ‘Fighting Chief of the Mountains’ because the Indigenous people there believe all the thunder and lightning that was shrouding the mountain was basically warring warriors.” (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2005-08-13/mount-warning-may-take-indigenous-name/2079948)
Initially deciding they would like to build a restaurant on the land and then finding out the Harley Street house was to be demolished, they decided to move the whole house to the farm. the house was cut into three parts and later reassembled on the ten hectare property.
Thus Mavis’ kitchen was born, named after Ebell’s Sri Lankan mother: a place where food was grown and prepared with love, care, and passion, where food was sourced from small farms and local producers wherever possible and in keeping with the community surrounding them.
Charlie Ebell & Peter Clarke.
The restaurant went onto host many famous people, weddings, functions and just the normal drop-in customer for a Devonshire tea. It was not unusual to see customers arriving by helicopter as it was a short ride form the Gold Coast. It still continues today as a very successful concern.
As time went on things started to get busy and change for Clarke and Ebell. The more they came down to Tasmania the more they realised this was place they want to be. Clarke had always had a strong passion to build or buy a house using sacred geometry principles.
What is sacred geometry? In a formal sense, sacred geometry refers to the use of geometric principles in religious contexts. It is used to define the shapes and patterns which you see carved into altars and cathedrals. However, in a much less orthodox way, speaking of sacred geometry may also refer to the patterns and rhythms found in the aesthetic perfection of the universe around us, be it astral formations, rhizomes, mineral structures, or our own genetic code. (https://www.faena.com/aleph/what-is-sacred-geometry)
While the two men don’t profess to be religious as such, they do have strong belief in the spirituality and relationship between nature and the human being.
For a long time, they both had a strong sense of Tasmania calling to them. After looking at a few houses, the house at Franklin not only was built on sacred geometry principles but uses the Fibonacci sequence in the building as well. The land surrounding the house, the water, crystals spotted around the land encourage good energies and a place of retreat.
When you walk on the property, you enjoy the garden, the edible flowers, the produce, fruit trees and artworks scattered through and you can take a little stroll to the stream a 5-minute walk from the studio. The property is also designated land for wildlife so it’s not uncommon to see a wallaby, native hen or a potoroo bobbing about.
Since their arrival in Franklin, Clarke was told by his uncle of uncle of the relationship with the area and talked about a ‘Cambridge house’ in Geeveston which was built by the original Geeves settlers who came out from Cambridgeshire in England. Apparently, the flooring of the house was made of timber from one of the ships. The family moved into a house called Stoneleigh in View Street which was the uncle’s father’s boyhood home. The hill behind, now covered in houses, was once part of the Stoneleigh House estate.
The family originally took up at Franklin on a grant of land from Lady Franklin. The land proved to be not very productive so they then moved down to Lightwood Bottom which later became Geeveston. Ebell’s uncle’s maternal grandmother was Janet Watson whose family had the Franklin Hotel and Johns Geeves senior was his uncle’s great-grandfather.
This was all news to Clarke and Ebell once they had bought the house in Franklin so there was a strong sense of ‘it was meant to be’.
The Little Seed studio.
Now they are officially Tasmanian residents. Most days are spent tending to an extensive permaculture garden, at yoga in Cygnet, in daily breakfast missions to the local cafes, and simply sitting and passing time appreciating the place they live in.
Credit of course goes to the previous owner of the property who carefully and meticulously built the sustainable house and permaculture garden. The boys are also learning the art of traditional fire burning practices and look to run workshops in the future.
Taking sustainability, a step further, Clarke and Ebell are looking at installing a solar power system to assist and even a micro-hydro operation from the river to support the house and the ‘Little Seed’ studio accommodation now on offer. Both initiatives are part of their desire is to significantly decrease their carbon footprint.
They also have a strong commitment to sustainability across all aspects of their business as possible, such as home grown food picked straight from the garden or locally sourced. They will also eventually be preparing their own homemade preserves that guest can try and indeed purchase.
The Little Seed Accommodation is an opportunity for people to have some time away, sharing in the couple’s commitment to sustainability principles and their hospitality. You can also enjoy the warmth of the fire, stroll to the wooden board walk out onto the mini lake, take a walk to the river and be close to nature or just simply listen to the birdsong that surrounds the place.
They really look forward to hosting you and sharing their beautiful space in the land of lutruwita.
