Jason Mowen waited until he was 45 to buy his first house. But this interior designer’s choice of a weatherboard cottage in the country four-and-half-hours north of Sydney was a surprise to many. “My friends thought I was crazy, but the more people told me not to do it, the more determined I became,” Jason says today, sitting in his elegant book-lined living room in Murrurundi, a NSW town famous for the thoroughbred studs dotted throughout the area.

The horse connection is an important one in this story. Based in Sydney’s inner-city Darlinghurst for a decade, Jason is the first to admit that on the surface his decision to opt for rural life was a surprising one, until you learn he grew up on a property in the rolling green hills around Maleny in Queensland.

“My mother and grandfather used to breed racehorses and I remember her speaking of Murrurundi when I was a kid. Then I went to university in Armidale in the early 90s and I always remembered this quaint little town with the long name that I used to drive through on my way to Sydney,” he explains.

“I drove through again in late 2015 and just fell in love with the place. It felt unspoiled: it wasn’t gentrified nor ruined with bad development. It was also really affordable and I loved that no-one back in Sydney had heard of it.”

On top of Jason’s lists of requirements was a place where his mother Jicky would also be happy to spend time. This meant any prospective new home needed to be in an area where this accomplished horsewoman’s beloved horses could be nearby — four of them are now on agistment in a nearby paddock — and so the search for a house began. Luckily, Jason was prepared to be patient because it was nearly a year before the right one came along.

“I was looking at both homes and land and after enquiring about another house, the local agent, Dave Bettington, told me: ‘Forget that one — have I got the house for you. Not on the market yet, but it’s perfect.” It took a while but 10 months later I was the proud owner of a largish cottage on an acre-and-a-half at the northern edge of town.”

Walking around the garden on a late afternoon, it’s easy to understand why, even though he had not originally planned to live in the property full time, Jason soon began to find it harder and harder to leave this quiet sanctuary with its abandoned tennis court and majestic pine trees soaring into the sky.

“In late 2019, I decided to give up the apartment I”d been renting for 10 years in Darlinghurst and move to the home I loved, and owned, in Murrurundi, as I felt I could do much of my work remotely,” he explains.

Built in 1905, the house is called Dovecot — a name Jason was originally puzzled by until he learnt more about its past. “There is no actual dovecot [a structure for housing doves or pigeons] so I couldn’t understand why it had been named that until I discovered it was built by a man named George Dove — so, house of the Dove — which I absolutely love. I bought the house from his granddaughter, Judy, who was born and lived all her life here. It has a really good energy. Judy was a lovely person, greatly esteemed in Murrurundi, and there was obviously a lot of love in this house over the years.”

Jason is gradually learning more and more about the history of Dovecot — just as he is with his holiday home in Italy. “Dovecot was my first house and then, just a few years later, I decided to buy a holiday place in Europe,” says Jason. After discovering how successfully he can work remotely from Murrurundi, he is hoping to spend three months a year at his second le casa — one half of a rustic palazzo dating back to 1580 — in Matino in Puglia.

“I see my life in the future, once things get back to normal, as living between Matino and Murrurundi. I”ve always been a bit of a gypsy and usually spend five to seven years in a place before moving on but I do love Murrurundi. It allows you to be quieter, which is great for inspiring both creativity and contentment. And being surrounded by such great beauty — the beauty of this wonderful old home and garden and the surrounding natural beauty of the mountains and landscape — I”ve lived all over the world and it just doesn’t get better than that.”

Jason’s Address Book

Five things I love to do in Murrurundi – and not in any particular order – are:

1. Lunch in the garden at Michael Reid’s gallery. “I love taking people there for lunch. The buildings, the ambience and the people – I love being there. Favourite thing on the menu? The pies are great.” Corner Boyd and Mayne streets, Murrurundi NSW. Telephone: (02) 6546 6767

2. A walk to Paradise Park. “If you walk up the hill and through these massive granite boulders and a crack in the cliff you will get a wonderful view of the town. It’s called the Eye of the Needle.”

3. Wander the town and admire the old colonial cottages and buildings dotted along the streets. “I’m always imagining what I”d do to them if they were mine!”

There’s a sign leaning against a weathered white wall on the deck of a small workers” cottage in the town of Murrurundi in NSW’s Upper Hunter. It’s a little faded after a few years in the sun and some of the words have almost disappeared but as I lean in a little closer, I can just make them out. ‘Life is too short to be serious all the time”.

Jean-Paul Bell, one of Australia’s best known mime artists, has shaped his life around this sentiment so it’s no surprise to discover the other quirky installations dotted around this block on one of Murrurundi’s side streets. The first, a nameplate ‘Whimsy” greets you at the front door. “I called it that because to me it is such a storybook cottage. Perhaps it’s because of my mother’s English background, but I”ve always had a bit of a panache for little cottages with white picket fences,” he explains with a wry smile. “I think moving around a lot as a kid, and we lived in a lot of different houses, gave me a great love of architecture and this is a classic workers” cottage.”

The 69-year-old first came to Murrurundi in the early 1980s. “I was on my way to Tamworth to do some shows and thought I would stay within striking distance,” explains the man who helped establish Clown Doctors, a group of performers dedicated to visiting hospitals, in 1997. “So I trundled into Murrurundi and stayed at the White Hart Hotel. It was very cheap, something like $14 a night. I checked in and then I wandered around town. I thought, I like this place.”

In fact, this grandfather of five – “they range in age from three to 22, it’s wonderful” – liked it so much that Murrurundi quickly became a regular stop on his trips up and down the New England Highway. But it was to take nearly four decades before Jean-Paul finally became a local when he bought the house in April 2014. “I was just in love with it. It took me six months to lift my head to look at the ranges outside the back door and then I thought, god if you were a painter, you would love to live in this town.”

After living in Sydney’s Northern Beaches and Newcastle for many years, Jean-Paul’s decision to move to the country perplexed some but he was no stranger to rural life. As a 14-year-old living in another little country town, St Andrews in Victoria, he had decided to become a performer.

“We had the most peripatetic existence when I was growing up. My father was mainly a travelling salesman and we moved 117 times – my siblings and I counted them up one night as most of us couldn’t remember them all. I went to 20 different primary schools and seven high schools. But I loved St Andrews, it was a fantastic little town, and I joined the local arts association there which eventually led me into theatre.”

Jean-Paul’s work has taken him around the world to some unusual places — two trips were even the subject of documentaries Honeymoon to Kabul in 2009 and Stumbling in Hillary’s Footsteps in 2013 — but the community spirit of this little town has captured his heart.

“I’m the most gypsy like person and I love to go travelling in my little van. I’m lucky to have the most wonderful – and zealous – neighbour, Neil. Anyone comes near the house, I get a report. He’s a former bus driver who doesn’t want to go anywhere, anymore. It’s a great community here which is nice, you just wouldn’t get this in the city.”

Jean-Paul’s Address Book

1. White Hart Hotel. The place Jean-Paul stayed on his first visit to Murrurundi. 46 Mayne Street, Murrurundi NSW. Telephone: (02) 6546 6242. whiteharthotel.com.au

2. Paradise Park. “The walk I love to do, and it takes about two hours, is to Paradise Park. A walk through The Eye Of The Needle also gives you a great view over town.”

3. Passed On. A second-hand shop run by Jean-Paul and friend Dorothy Cleary. “I wanted to call it Dead People’s Stuff after a shop I”d seen in Canada but she thought it was a bit too much.” 52 Mayne Street, Murrurundi NSW.