Where flowers bloom so does hope – Harvest Studio

Page left; The humble pug building – formerly a church and then a Sunday School – now home to Harvest Studio, bringing lively colour to the heritage building. Top and and bottom left: Hope’s extended family history is evident everywhere, from a distant relative John Semmens’ grave marker, to the old Sunday school chair displaying one of Harvest Studio’s dried floral arrangements, which was gifted back to Hope by her great aunt who taught at the school some time ago. Right: Hope and her daughter, Ruby – the seventh and eighth generations of the family working with the land in some way.

‘Where flowers bloom, so does hope,’ said Lady Bird Johnson, America’s First Lady in the 1960s. She believed that by beautifying the highways with wildflowers, her nation would be a better place to live.

Here in McLaren Vale, Hope Lovelock Deane not only has a historic personal connection to the roads of the southern vales, but she also aspires to bring new life to her family’s, and the local communities’, natural and cultural environments.

Deane. Lovelock. Pethick. Semmens. McDonald. Hill. Morton. Hutchinson. As well as being names of roads that reach from Reynella to Aldinga, these are just some of the surnames in Hope’s eight generations of family. ‘There are around thirty family names in my bloodline, back to the first generation that lived around the basin,’ says Hope. It makes for a multitude of relatives both living and dead, including those now resting in McLaren Vale’s Congregational Cemetery – of which Hope is now custodian.

Earlier this year, Hope purchased the cemetery and small chapel found at the rear of the Congregational Church. The nondescript pug building, built in 1844, could easily be overlooked but it has historical significance dating back to the settling of the McLaren Vale township.

‘This building was the first place of worship built in McLaren Vale, remaining the only church until the bigger Congregational Church was built on the same property in 1860. ‘I really like that it was a meeting place for five denominations who had previously met under a large gum tree on Kangarilla Road. Once the big church was established, the small building became the Sunday School, which >

Above left: Hope’s ever increasing and changing vintage vase collection. Right: The woman in the image is an Atkinson, from Hope’s mum’s side of the family.

my dad and aunty attended. It was taught by my great-aunt who gifted me her Sunday School chair to return to this space,’ shares Hope.

Hope’s grandparents and great-grandparents continued running the family transport business from their homes across the road from the chapel. ‘My great, great-grandfather, John McDonald and his wife Effie [nee Hutchinson] started their carrying work originally from Old Noarlunga in the early 1900s with a horse and cart. My parents continued running McLaren Vale Transport, which became Deane Transport, carting wine, grapes, grain and bottles. Dad was the fourth generation of his family running this business until he retired after this year’s grape harvest,’ Hope explains.

Harvest Studio, Hope’s flower and botanical business, moved into the chapel in July. With over thirty years’ experience as a contemporary visual, installation and public arts artist, Hope decided six years ago to primarily work with locally farmed, gardened and foraged botanical materials to allow people to reconnect with nature and to view everyday environments in a different way.

‘When researching how artists could support more holistic environmental outcomes on public art projects, I realised that the most profound and useful thing that I could do as an artist was reconnect people with nature; to create installations, public art projects; to share the wonder and magic of the world outside which in turn allows people to remember their own sense of place within the environment,’ states Hope.

The cemetery and chapel are not only home to Harvest Studio but have also created the opportunity to realise Hope’s vision for a cultural garden project. The grounds of the cemetery and memorial wall are home to over four hundred graves, many of which have been neglected over the years. Hope’s time living in Denmark has inspired her to bring life back to the historic graves. ‘The Danish cemeteries are beautiful, like a garden around a church. I would love this place to be welcoming to all, to be run as a community garden and placemaking project, with layers of planting areas to link in with different eras of local land-use including pre-whitefella, colonial, Mediterranean and current day.

Hope has shared her plans with artist and cultural geographer, Gavin Malone. He comments, ‘Hope’s plans to give life to the former church through both Harvest Studio and community participation bring a wonderful and colourful dimension to the heart of McLaren Vale and its history. Flowers and floral arrangements both celebrate life and acknowledge death; this is also what Hope is doing. We know that a few Aboriginal people attended the laying of the foundation stone in February 1844 ... What Hope seeks to do is recognise and include the bi-cultural history of place, as should we all.’

Hope is sensitive to the layers of synchronicity that seem to characterise Harvest Studio’s new home. That the foundation stone for this first church in the Vale was laid at a harvest ceremony under the original gum tree church on Kangarilla Road and that now Harvest Studio is the guardian of the site. That her research masters in public art was named ‘Spaces for the Soul’ and that she is now the caretaker of a graveyard. That her mother went into labour to give birth to Hope across the road from the site that Hope plans to be her business’ forever home. But perhaps it’s more than that. Perhaps this passionate woman who views art as a service has finally found her own unique place that will allow her to truly grow her own model paradise.

Welcome to the club

Story by Kate Le Gallez. Photography by Jason Porter.

‘We’ve made that commitment to the business and to each other that it’s our place and we want to be able to welcome everybody that comes here’

Page left and above; The Silver Sands Beach Club’s large west-facing deck – a stone’s throw from the water – is the perfect place to enjoy the sunset complemented by great food, beverages of all sorts and stellar hospitality.

When Nick Stock was a kid living in Adelaide, he was desperate to learn to surf. He begged his dad to teach him and so they began heading down to the Fleurieu’s mid-coast, mostly ending up at Moana, but sometimes they’d go as far as Silver Sands. ‘I remember looking at the sign and, I didn’t articulate like this at the time, but I thought to myself: that is wild, that this place is called Silver Sands,’ Nick says. ‘So I remember as an eight-year-old kid thinking this is a magic, magic thing.’

Nick tells this story sitting in the new Silver Sands Beach Club, which he co-owns with his friend and business partner, Mark Kamleh. The restaurant isn’t open for service today, so we can happily occupy prime position at the front window, the panoramic view of the ocean all ours. And yes, it is magic. Life pre-and post-pandemic stand in stark contrast for Nick and Mark. Nick travelled widely as an international wine critic, while Mark worked mostly in Adelaide as a DJ and hospitality chameleon. The two connected first through friends and then professionally, working together at Tasting Australia.

Then, of course, Covid hit. Nick took up a friend’s offer to live in a house surrounded by vineyards at Clarendon and he invited Mark to come and stay, drink wine, eat good food and ride out the lockdown. They did all those things and also incubated and hatched their first joint venture, wine events company Wine Country.

As the pandemic continued to disrupt life, Nick bought a house at Sellicks Beach (incidentally, Mark now lives on the same street). And so it happened that he was quick to notice when the temporary fence went up around the site for the new surf lifesaving club at neighbouring Silver Sands. Breaking with tradition, the surf club put the operation of the new hospitality space out to tender and it struck Nick as a great opportunity – just not for him. But then he spent more time thinking about it, got his mate Mark on board, and things went from there. >

Page left: The large open dining area is adjacent to a playground with views to spectacular cliffs of Sellicks Beach. Above: The food is a mix of classic pub style and more delicate and curated offerings like the kingfish sashimi.

The pair are conscious that their mandate is to create their own independent business that serves both the club members and the wider public. The space itself is a physical manifestation of how surf club and beach club co-exist, with an upturned surf boat filling the cavernous roof space and an old fisherman’s bell on the wall. Touches of beach-club chic are woven into the space, with Beach Club branding in Mediterranean blue on the drinks fridges, a mobile pink bar and planter boxes.

Come summer the focus will be firmly on the front deck, which will be casually furnished with cabana-like lounging zones. ‘We really want to make it feel super beachy out there,’ says Nick. ‘You just sit on the deck on a cushion and relax and sort of sprawl out, almost like an extension of the beach itself.’ There’ll be hooks for hanging towels and umbrellas to extend the shade zone, plus a kiosk on the lawn offering ice creams, takeaway fish and chips and perhaps pizza.

The whole idea is that people will feel comfortable dropping in any time, any way. Maybe you swing by on your morning walk and pick up a coffee, or slide out of the ocean for an ice cream. Or maybe you want to sit down for dinner, ordering from the full menu which has been honed over winter, first by chef Annika Berlingieri (ex-Vigna Bottin) now joined by head chef Alessandro Gramazio (exHerringbone, Osteria Oggi).

The locally focused menu has a seasonal, Italian bent (the winter menu features vitello tonnato, eggplant parmigiana and grilled swordfish) but the mainstays will be the classics, like the schnitzel, fish and chips and, of course, the cheeseburger. >

Above left: Did someone say cheeseburgers and beer? Right: Mark Kamleh and Nick Stock look forward to welcoming you to the Beach Club. Bottom: With Nick a sommelier and Mark a mix master (both as a DJ and as a bartender), you can be guaranteed of a great selection of wine, beer and cocktails as well as smooth tunes.

‘It was the first thing we really said, alright, if we’re gonna do this, it has to be like the best cheeseburger any person has had in their life,’ says Nick. In pursuit of this audacious goal, they worked with McLaren Vale’s Ellis Butcher to create their perfect pattie (a mix of brisket and chuck). They’ve also collaborated with nearby Papershell Farm and Lovely Valley Truffles among others.

Unsurprisingly, the wine list is somewhat lengthier than you might usually expect from a surf club. Nick gestures to the line-up of bottles currently sitting above the bar, which travels from McLaren Vale, to the Adelaide Hills and overseas to New Zealand, France and Italy. It’s indicative of Mark and Nick’s approach, spotlighting local wines they love as well as offering some different options to explore. Wines by the bottle don’t fall simply into ‘red’ and ‘white’ categories, instead described as ‘pizza wine’ or ‘sports drinks’ alongside a few goodies Nick has pulled from his own cellar. business and to each other that it’s our place and we want to be able to welcome everybody that comes here,’ Nick says. ‘Our idea of hospitality is pretty old school.’ It also means they’re on site to lead their young, local team.

The only missing piece now is the ocean itself. So tantalisingly close and yet unapproachable in the cold weather, except to the bravest of souls. Even in winter, though, the location is undeniably the Beach Club’s trump card. It was the thing that captured Nick and Mark’s shared imagination, changing the trajectories of their lives.

‘We believe in this place so much, we know how amazing it is. We know what an incredible future it has. We know there’s a new generation of people that are here,’ says Nick. ‘And we want to be such a big part of that.’ ‘I wanna be here a long time,’ Mark adds. ‘I want to be an old person pulling beers ... Just old and grey and still pulling beers.’

South Seas Books

is an independent bookshop on the Fleurieu’s south coast. South Seas will ignite your imagination. 53 North Terrace, Port Elliot P: 8554 2301 www.southseasbooks.com.au South Seas Trading

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Beachcombers

Styling by Hollie Connery. Photography by Jason Porter on location at Lady Bay.

It’s a wondrous thing, how the wild calms a child. Sandy feet and wind lashed hair. The freckles collected on a child’s nose tells a story, little reminders of a summer well spent. Nothing is more glorious than a day exploring our beautiful adventurous coast line with your little wild ones.