TOURS

There's a number of ways that you can come and visit Abdallah House in Seymour, Central Victoria:

Public Tours

Since 2011 we have been open as a part of International Permaculture Day, where the property is open for people to wander around and ask questions. held around the first Sunday in May each year.

From time to time there are local sustainable house tours in the area that we are involved in that are run through the Mitchell Shire Council or BEAM - Mitchell Environment Group. These are usually advertised in local newspapers or on their websites.

We were involved with the Sustainable House Day in September 2012 and 2014 but now focus our energy in support of Permaculture Day.

Richard describing the passive solar aspects of the house in 2012. Some from this group went on to set up Hibi Farm, that features on the cover of RetroSuburbia. (Photo: Maria Cameron)

Private Tours

We've also run a number of private tours for groups including: University of Technology Sydney, Eltham College, Country Greens Network, Seymour College, Seymour TAFE, Seymour Garden Club, Eastern Suburbs Permaculture Group and Permaculture Design Courses.

Private tours can accommodate up to 25 adults and run for 2+ hours. They usually start with an introduction and a tour of the outside of the house is followed by and exploration inside to the heart of home. Guests are welcome to take photos and ask questions.

Communal lunch with Eastern Suburbs Permaculture Group during an extended tour in 2012

Seymour college physics students, hour long tour in 2018
A typical tour lasts takes about 2 hours and costs $220 for a maximum of 20 adults (current 2023). Discounts may be available for schools and local groups. 

Care has been made to ensure our home is a safe place to visit, but it is a working urban homestead with associated dangers - eg stepping hazards, thorny plants, rainwater for drinking. Entry is at your own risk and insurance must be covered by the visiting group or individuals.

If you or your group are interested in organising a tour and discussing pricing then please contact richard.telford(at)gmail.com (replace (at) with @


Comments

"Your property inspired the group in many ways - from the use of recycled materials from the original house to the use of water on the property, the cellar and cool room (cool cupboard), the importance of insulation and your wetland in the front garden - and your descriptions of the thinking behind the work were very informative." Cathy - Sustainable Communities Program
"Wonderful to see such an inspirational, thoughtful home and lifestyle. We all have a real life example of what to aspire to. Many thanks!" Yuki - Transition 3081
"You presented the story of Abdallah House without making out that it's impossible for others to achieve, with such modesty about the incredible project you have carried off... and the billy tea, cordial, chairs even for the kids, etc was just perfect - way over what I'd expected!" Maria - Transition 3081
"Thank you so much for sharing this amazing project. This is what the world needs to pursue, less commercial consumption and more sustainable living. Well done, an inspiration." James - 2012 Sustainable House Day
"Club members were interested in the energy-efficient house and edible garden and the couple's strategies for lowering their impact on the planet as much as possible, while maintaining a high quality of living." Lyn - Seymour Garden Club
"Finally got to view this incredible property after first hearing about it about 5 or 6 years ago. It lived up to expectations. Now to try and put some of this into practice at my place. Thank you for sharing." Rebecca - 2018 RetroSuburbia tour.
Mitchell Shire Council staff tour in 2015

Comments

Vicky Ram said…
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
January 20, 2019 at 8:26 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Crazy paving with urbanite

Image
Principle 11: Use edges and value the marginal I collected a large pile of concrete which had been sitting out the front for a number of years. It had become habitat for snails mainly. Originally the concrete blocks were footpaths from around the original house, so they hadn't traveled far. This material is more commonly known as 'urbanite', and is used in some pretty creative ways . I've been thinking about creating a space for an outdoor kitchen for some time now, and figured that I really needed a paved area in between the shed and cellar to set it up. The urbanite seemed like the perfect answer, allowing me to clean up around the front and create a great space round the back. My mate Dylan suggested that I make up a form and mortar mix to set the concrete block pieces onto. Seemed like a good idea to me, so after thinking about it for a few months and with summer just about to start, I decided to get stuck into it. After clearing the space I set up a
Read more

The 'Super Fridge' (upright freezer conversion)

Image
Principle 12: Creatively use and respond to change I'm one for trying out different things, and I like to see what we can get away with before committing to something bigger and 'better'. Fridges and freezers are one of the biggest energy consumers in the household - usually behind heating / cooling and hot water systems. Our upright freezer to fridge conversion in action We've trialed a number of fridge systems here before settling on the upright freezer conversion. First we used an old 150lt bar fridge that used around 670Wh per day Then we bought a 150lt chest freezer (using around 466Wh per day) for preserving bulk food - with the idea of a possible conversion. Our bar fridge died two weeks later so we used ice from our freezer to create a 'ice box bar fridge' We then tried a smaller old Engel fridge (about 50lt) that I had in the Kombi that used about 420Wh per day. After not being entirely satisfied with any of the above I finally decided
Read more

Cool cupboard completed

Image
Principle 7: Design from patterns to details The cool cupboard project has been a very long one. While it demonstrates most of the permaculture design principles I thought that I'd focus on 'Design from Patterns to Details' because it really was the way in which the project evolved and was finally completed. The design was inspired by the cool cupboard that I saw at Melliodora, the home of David Holmgren and Su Dennett. David includes a section about the design of his cupboard in his eBook about the property. Since then I've seen other designs that use the same principles including a pantry in an old house near Sheparton that had a mesh covered hole in the floor and one that was covered up in the ceiling and 'Adelaide House' in Alice Spings which I visited in 2004 and wrote this short report on for my Permaculture Diploma: My cupboard is based more on David Holmgren's design, with a few differences. It draws air through the cellar (with a water tan
Read more