Soulful off-grid retreat keeps drawing guests to Torquay

ONE of the Surf Coast’s most renowned builders continues to impress with its bespoke, eco-friendly holiday home in Torquay — a thoughtfully crafted retreat that remains a standout in the region’s accommodation landscape.

Steve and Lyndsey Dunstan of SK Dunstan Builders have created a purpose-built cabin named Ella’s Rest that blends seamlessly with its natural surrounds.

 

The couple partnered with Anglesea-based designer Emma Mitchell of EMArchitects for the build, and holiday accommodation manager Felicity O’Brien of Airready following completion, to deliver the five-star holiday home.

The villa is privately located on a 7-acre property at the edge of Torquay with views across an on-site dam, with an array of warm timber tones repeated throughout that create a serene sense of being part of the surrounding environment.

 

The result is a beautifully designed short-stay site that owes its pristine product to meticulous planning – right down to its name.

The cabin’s name honours Ella, the family dog whose presence shaped the place long before it opened to guests. She passed away in 2022.

“Prior to finishing the cabin, she used to have the run of the place around here,” Mr Dunstan said.

“I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to name a cabin before. We fumbled around reading hundreds of names before all of a sudden: ‘Let’s call it Ella’s Rest’.”

 

The property is entirely off-grid and powered by a solar system and connected to tank water to create an eco-friendly residence, with recycled materials also used throughout.

While the off-grid decision came partly out of necessity, Mr Dunstan said the green focus had resonated with the property’s first guests.

“We tried to keep in mind that we didn’t have enough power on-site without putting a new transformer in, so we went down the path of off grid,” he said.

“It’s all run by a battery system, which is performing very well.”

The green nature of the property also stemmed from Ms Mitchell’s expertise in creating natural spaces, which naturally flowed to the shared vision for the design.

 

“It’s the site itself that’s so beautiful,” she said. “The cabin has a beautiful aspect onto the dam.

“It evolved to ‘walking through a wall’ – the way you can walk through that into the interior space and that connection to outside.

“Steve, from day one, had the sense of the building cantilevering out to the waterway, and I really like the way that turned out.”

The one-of-a-kind property needs one-of-a-kind features and the construction team delivered – all the way from custom-made clay light fittings to purpose-built timber furniture throughout.

“There’s a lot of inbuilt furniture like in the wardrobe. It was all designed by Emma and built on-site by ourselves,” Mr Dunstan said.

 

“There’s a lot of emphasis on that sort of look.

“It is a pretty unique style of building – and don’t worry, we’ve built it all.

“There’s a lot of modern style homes these days which are pretty bare and there’s not much soul to them, but we feel that it’s got a bit of soul, a bit of character.”

Overhangs on the roof are positioned to shield rooms from the sun at its height in the sky during summer and to welcome in the sunlight when it is lower during winter.

Reviews from guests have been overwhelmingly positive and supportive of the project’s ambitious vision.

Ella’s Rest is open for bookings and is found on Airbnb, Airready and tourism sites such as Visit Victoria and Torquay Life.

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