Three Pavilions Above Bowral, Connected by Glass and Landscape

Three Pavilions Above Bowral, Connected by Glass and Landscape

There is a particular quiet that settles over the Southern Highlands in the late afternoon.

At 'Ananda Park' it arrives across two elevated acres above Bowral, over gardens, a heated pool, and a view that runs uninterrupted toward Kangaloon and Range Road. This is contemporary rural living at its most considered: a home set in one of the town's higher, more private pockets, close to Bong Bong Street yet quietly removed from it. To arrive is to slow down.

Beyond its hand-laid dry-stone entrance, the home reveals itself not as one building, but three. The residence unfolds as a sequence of pavilions, joined by glass linkways, spanning more than 600 square metres of indoor and outdoor living. That single decision — to break the home into connected parts rather than one mass — shapes everything that follows: the way light moves through it, the way the landscape is always present, the way a large home can still feel intimate.

A home that opens to the district on every side

The pavilion form does quiet, deliberate work.

Rather than turning inward, the home is oriented outward — each zone framed by garden and district views, so the landscape is never more than a pane of glass away. At the centre sits the kitchen and dining space, the natural gravity of the house, held between two expansive living zones. Natural materials and restraint in the detailing give the interiors an enduring sense of calm and space. Hydronic underfloor heating runs throughout, a wood fireplace anchors the cooler months, and double glazing keeps the Highlands winter where it belongs — outside the glass.

Where the Highlands day ends

Beyond the living zones, the grounds are built for the way people actually spend a Highlands weekend.

An eight-by-four-metre heated saltwater pool, fitted with deck jets, sits beside a sun-drenched lounging area. Nearby, an outdoor bath and shower sanctuary offers a private place to rinse off after the pool or settle into the last of the afternoon light. This is the part of the home that rewards long days — the pool at the right hour, the light across the garden, a quiet sense of luxury.

Built to be lived in for a long time

For all its composure, 'Ananda Park' is a working home.

The two elevated acres carry raised vegetable beds, established fruit trees, a fully fenced chicken run and a dog yard — the quiet infrastructure of a self-sufficient country life. A 9.3kW solar system speaks to a home built with the long view in mind, as do the five-thousand-litre water tank and hardwired internet throughout. There is a professional-grade cinema room, fully sound-insulated and acoustically fitted, and a laundry with integrated wine storage and generous mudroom function. Five bedrooms in total — one of them readily a nursery or home office — each with its own private outlook.

A town shaped by the seasons

Bowral has never had to raise its voice.

Within easy reach of Sydney, it remains the sophisticated heart of the Southern Highlands — a town shaped by cool-climate seasons, established gardens and a strong culture of food, wine and design. Bong Bong Street brings together independent boutiques, elegant shopfronts and long-standing local institutions, while the wider region opens to cellar doors, country estates and the heritage townships of Berrima and Bundanoon. Its appeal lies in that balance: a slower rhythm of life without losing the culture, connection or quality that make a place feel complete.

'Ananda Park' takes its name from the Sanskrit word for bliss, and the home earns it not through spectacle but through the accumulation of quiet, considered decisions — three pavilions, two acres, one long view. It is a house that understands the difference between grand and generous, and chooses, everywhere, to be the second.