A true hilltop hideaway at 88 Mitchell Rd Chandlers Hill

A CHANDLERS HILL home offers the opportunity to get back to nature without being too far from suburban conveniences.

Sonya Fraser bought the 88 Mitchell Rd property, which is set on 9.5ha — some of that being untouched scrubland — in 2012, attracted by its privacy and tranquil bushland setting, and the lifestyle it would offer her children.

88 Mitchell Road, Chandlers Hill. Supplied by Harris Real Estate

“I loved the serenity, the open spaces, the privacy and that there was room for the kids to ride BMXs and learn to drive in the paddock, and I also loved the wildlife,” she says.

“Every single time you go for a walk through the scrub it’s different,” she says.

“There are koalas, there’s a resident echidna, and every single night when you come home there are kangaroos next to the driveway, and quite often they’re eating the back lawn just metres from the house.”

88 Mitchell Rd, Chandler’s Hill. Supplied by Harris Real Estate.

The home, which was completed in 2009, is finished to the highest standard throughout. It has four bedrooms and a study. The master suite features a walk-in robe and an ensuite with a bath, a shower, a toilet and a dual vanity.

The heart of the home is a large open-plan kitchen, dining and family room at the rear, which opens out to a large paved area for outdoor entertaining. At the front of the home is a living area with a bay window, and the home also has a large laundry, a family bathroom, a double garage and a separate 12m x 7m garage or workshop.

88 Mitchell Rd, Chandler’s Hill. Supplied by Harris Real Estate.

Ms Fraser says the home’s size and landholding makes it ideal for a family.

“The bedrooms, the bathrooms, the kitchen, the storage, the garage — absolutely everything about that house is oversized,” she says.

“There’s so much for kids to do — they’re not sitting around, they’re out building forts in the scrub, exploring the walking trails, and riding their bikes around and then racing inside to tell me they’ve found a baby koala.”

Ms Fraser says it is a dream for entertaining, both inside and out.

88 Mitchell Rd, Chandler’s Hill. Supplied by Harris Real Estate.

“There have been many times where we’ve had a barbecue and been sitting around the firepit, kept loading it up with wood, watching the view, talking away, and next minute the sun’s coming up,” she says. “Christmases are great because there’s so much room to put whopping great big trestle tables up out there. It’s a lifestyle that you have to experience because there are so many different aspects to it.”

88 Mitchell Rd, Chandler’s Hill. Supplied by Harris Real Estate.

With her children having moved out, the time has come to downsize, Ms Fraser says, but saying goodbye to the home she and her family have loved will be difficult.

“Coming home from work, as I round that last corner and see the lights of my house, I just can’t help but feel good,” she says.

“This is the only place I’ve ever lived where I can’t wait to go to bed so I can lay there and look at the view. I watch the lights over Glenelg and count the ships and the planes and go to sleep, and then I wake up in the morning and the view is every bit as pretty.”