Moss Vale: The landscaper's dream town attracting a rush of COVID tree-changers

Landscape architect Nicholas Bray has been lucky enough to see and create beautiful gardens around the world. 

Yet after returning to Australia in the mid-1990s following several years studying and working in Canada, Britain, Italy, Spain and Singapore, it was an easy decision to return home to the Southern Highlands and set up an office.

His parents own the historic former School of Arts building in Moss Vale, and Bray shares an office space there with other creatives who draw inspiration from the surrounding countryside.

Four seasons

“From a landscaper’s perspective, the fact that you have this contrast of seasons means you can get a really distinct difference between spring, summer, autumn and winter,” says Bray.

“You get the autumn colours, then you’ve got deciduous planting which means there are very few leaves on the trees in winter. The flowering bulbs and other plants explode in the spring and you really feel like the landscape is waking up.”

Bray has had a hand in transforming some of the Highlands’ most prestigious estates and has also worked his magic on his own Moss Vale property, where a 1930s ironbark homestead sits within a garden blending a Spanish aesthetic with Australian flora suited to the cooler climate.

Bray says the town has seen a renaissance of sorts through the combined effects of improved lifestyle amenity and a rush of COVID tree-changers.

“If you came here 10 years ago Moss Vale was a ghost town on weekends, now it’s just packed,” he says.

Visitors come for the bucolic scenery but also for the burgeoning food and wine scene and the boutique shopping.

Bray has a long list of favourites, from art and design store Made by Others to Suzie Anderson’s eponymous homewares store, and the Nest & Burrow guest shop.

He’s a fan of the Highlands Merchant cafe, the American-style Bernie’s Diner and the enticing menu at a la carte restaurant Birch.

And when it comes to a beer with friends, he recommends Taphouse.

Retreat from the city

McGrath Bowral agent Anne Stone says Moss Vale now holds its own against the larger town centre of Bowral, and its retailers and eateries attract regular patronage from across the Southern Highlands.

When it comes to property, 95 per cent of inquiries are from Sydney buyers, with some keen to buy a weekender but many on the path to permanent residency.

There is stiff competition for the best of Moss Vale’s character homes, many of which can be found in the pocket surrounding Valetta Street and Narellan Road.

“A lot of people who were thinking I’m going to [make a tree change] in a couple of years’ time are now saying, ‘Why not do it now?’” Stone says.

“COVID has encouraged people to act now rather than wait.”

One to Watch

The new owners of this hip Highlands home should expect plenty of out-of-town visitors: the property comes with a gorgeous, self-contained guest house.

Set on 3.48 hectares, the main residence features open-plan living spaces and a conservatory-style indoor-outdoor room.

Anne Stone from McGrath Bowral is selling the home with a guide of $3.2 million.

SOLD - $3,200,000

434 Nowra Road, Moss Vale NSW 2577

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