Sunrise star Edwina Bartholomew's ‘wonderful outlet’ away from spotlight

Away from the bright lights and big personalities of breakfast TV, Sunrise star Edwina Bartholomew loves to live the simple life on her rural property near Sydney's Blue Mountains.

The 38-year-old entertainment presenter purchased the small parcel of land six years ago with her husband, writer Neil Varcoe and the pair have since transformed it into a hobby farm and part-time Airbnb.

Family farm fun

Edwina tells Yahoo Lifestyle that the property has been a welcome escape for the couple and their daughter, 20-month-old Molly, particularly during the pandemic.

"We just had this amazing appreciation in recent times, of being able to get out of the city in the fresh air and the open space," she says.

"When the first lockdown [in 2020] was on, we actually had a number of months out there which was lovely," she adds.

With eight majestic Highland cows — as well as a set of newborn twins — and plenty of room to roam around, it's hard to say who enjoys the farm more: Molly or her parents.

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"For us, the farm has been a really wonderful outlet and one that we certainly set up for our children to enjoy.

"It's been a wonder to see Molly exploring this place that we've really built from the ground up and seeing the pleasure that she gets out of going for rides on the tractor with her dad and mooing at the cows."

Now, with baby number two on the way — she shared the happy news live on Sunrise in August — Edwina is gearing up to fit out the car with another car seat and leave the city behind as much as possible.

"It's wonderful to think that we now have this place that's at the centre of our family, and a connection to a really special part of Australia and a special piece of land that we get to take care of for a little bit."

Edwina's new podcast

Edwina's love for country life made her a perfect pick to host a new six-episode podcast series by Woolworths, titled From Grassroots.

The series gave Edwina a behind the scenes look into Aussie farming communities across the nation, and the immense amount of work that goes into getting fresh produce onto supermarket shelves.

"I think like everyone over the last two years, I have a greater appreciation for where our food comes from, I think since becoming a parent I'm much more conscious of what I'm feeding my daughter and reading labels and making sure it's Australian grown," she explains.

Despite having gained some knowledge of running a farm over the past few years, Edwina describes the experience of visiting working properties and meeting with farmers as 'eye-opening'.

"When you're a farmer you're at the mercy of the weather all the time, I think I had a vague appreciation of that from having our own small parcel of land, but then to speak to these farmers it really hammers it home.

"It's probably a message that doesn't get through to people living in the city that it's really hard work and these people are running really successful businesses and are really clever businesspeople."

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