The many faces of farming-zone life already flourishing around Stretton Park.
Take a quiet drive along the back roads that weave around Stretton Park Farm and you’ll quickly realise this is no ordinary patch of Victorian countryside. Beneath the wide skies of the Surf Coast hinterland, an astonishing variety of rural enterprises are already humming away – all of them perfectly at home within the Surf Coast Shire’s Farming Zone. These are not outliers or special exceptions; they are living proof of what is possible when imagination meets the generous provisions of the zone.
You can sip cool-climate pinot at Minya or Mount Duneed one moment, then wander across the road to a flourishing turf farm or a nursery bursting with native plants. Pause for coffee at Moonah or Sana, drop the kids at the local Steiner school, then collect a box of fresh-picked strawberries on the way home. You might pass a polo field in full cry, wave to a border-collie breeder putting pups through their paces, or spot an alpaca stud framed against the You Yangs. Private airstrips sit comfortably beside olive groves, yoga retreats share fence lines with working cattle properties, and a luxury spa is only a paddock or two from a landscape-supplies yard.
This is the magic of the Farming Zone done right: genuine rural character, genuine productivity, and genuine lifestyle – all co-existing without compromise.
At Stretton Park we see a future that builds on exactly this model. The same zoning flexibility that has nurtured these diverse businesses will allow the next chapter here to unfold in ways that are creative, sustainable and deeply connected to the land.
Some of the farming-zone compatible opportunities we envisage for the future at Stretton Park include:
• Boutique winery or cellar door
• Vineyard-based restaurant or café
• Wellness retreats, day spas and yoga studios
• Luxury farm-stay accommodation, cottages and glamping
• Equestrian facilities – agistment, training, polo, dressage or spelling
• Specialty agriculture – berries, olives, truffles, flowers, herbs or native foods
• Plant nurseries, cut-flower farms or turf production
• Animal breeding programmes (alpaca, sheep, working dogs, rare breeds)
• Artisan food production and farm-gate sales
• Small-scale events venue (weddings, workshops, long-table dinners)
• Private airfield or helipad
• Education and nature-based childcare
• Landscape and garden supply businesses
• Pet retreats, boarding or training facilities
• Market gardens and community-supported agriculture (CSA) schemes
These are not pie-in-the-sky ideas. They are the kinds of enterprises already thriving on the roads that surround us – enterprises that respect the land, add economic vitality, and enrich the fabric of rural life.
Stretton Park is ready to write the next verse of this distinctly Surf Coast story.
We can’t wait to see who joins us in the telling.
