After writing this blog for 12.5 years, I’ve seen a lot of amazing properties but I don’t think any of them have blown me away as much as Mount Algidus featured in the October 2015 issue of House and Garden magazine. The beautiful home is located on a spectacularly isolated 53,000-acre cattle station on New Zealand’s South Island. Everything from the building materials to the furniture had to be brought to the site via tractors and horses along the flats of river which is was as treacherous as it sounds. With all the work involved, you’d think that the owners Jane & Jamie Smiley had built a small and simple cottage but instead they created a rich and layered home filled with antiques, artwork, patterned fabrics, and wallpaper you would expect to find in the English countryside. With the world in chaos lately, it looks like the most idyllic place to escape. I wonder if they have room for one more.

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