There’s change afoot. No longer is farming and farm culture seen by city dwellers as the work of yokels; in fact, it has become the height of fashion.
On any given weekend The Grounds of Alexandria in Sydney’s east, a café-cum-farmers market-cum-hobby farm is positively alive with a mix of hipsters and families seeking their brunch fix, and a glimpse of resident piggy, Kevin Bacon.
The latest addition to the sprawling ‘destination café’ is The Potting Shed – an agriculturally inspired bar, pulling beers from shovel-handled taps and serving rustic farm-fare share plates
Surrounded by carefully selected décor like a wheelbarrow fire pit, a micro-herb greenhouse, and more flowerpots and fernery than you can poke a stick at – they’ve nailed ‘farm chic’ in one fell swoop.
But it’s not just inner-city trendoids taking note of farm-chic business opportunities – fashionistas too.
Byron Bay is about to receive it’s very own ‘agri-tourism project’ dubbed: “The Farm”.
The heir to iconic Australian fashion brand ‘Oroton’ has purchased 32 hectares of an old dairy farm five kilometres outside Byron Bay. Set up to include a cheese factory, a range of horticultural produce, farm-stay accommodation, as well as keeping its own pigs, cows, and chickens for organic eggs – all aspects of the business will be open for tourists. It will also include a restaurant run by the award-winning team behind Sydney’s The Three Blue Ducks.