Celebrity chef Geoff Jansz slicing off Southern Highlands farm
The much-missed celebrity chef Geoff Jansz and his wife Angella have listed in the Southern Highlands, but they’re not quitting the farm.
Jansz, who starred on television in the 1990s, is just selling a portion of the farm, Aviemore.
The couple is subdividing off a 4000sqm parcel which was previously a dressage area used by their daughters who are now grown up.
Bordered by established trees, the land is for sale via Angus Campbell Jones at Campbell Jones Property which is asking $1.2 million.
Campbell Jones says the block is a ‘one off’, accessed down a tree-lined driveway.
For a long time Jansz has been known for producing various jams and spiced tomato relishes.
He still has a kitchen and studio in the barn on the property, as well as an extensive veggie garden.
His Instagram postings showed this week he was picking limes, fresh thyme and scotch bonnet chillies, and busily preparing a charcoal grilled Jamaican jerk chicken.
With freezing hands, he’s also been picking his remaining Granny Smiths, which deemed too unattractive to sell have been given away instead.
The 57-year-old bought the farm back in 1994 when the couple moved from Melbourne’s Hawthorn.
His paddock to plate passion was first screened on TV in 1992 when he made an appearance as a food presenter on ABC’s EveryBody, which was hosted by Lisa Forrest.
Jansz hosted Channel 9’s What’s Cooking after taking over from Gabriel Gate in 1993 until it ceased going to air in 1999, when he was co-hosting with Kerri-Anne Kennerley.
From 1995 until 2004 he also appeared on Burke’s Backyard, and also hosted the daytime cooking program Fresh with the Australian Women’s Weekly.
In recent times he’s been the chef for lunches at Wombat Hollow, Michael and Susie Yabsley’s corporate forums venue in the Highlands.
Despite loving Melbourne, the couple missed the country lifestyle.
They initially looked on the Mornington Peninsula however given family ties to Bowral they opted for the Southern Highlands. They spent $670,000 for the 4.6ha holding now known as Aviemore, named after the Picton restaurant he had before he began his career in the media.
Jansz learnt to cook in the kitchens of Mark Armstrong and Paul Bocuse in France.
“To me food should be all about enjoyment, however if you’re inclined to dig a little, every mouthful contains a myriad of stories, of truths and possibilities — some agriculture, some history, some culture,” he says.
This article was first published in the Saturday Daily Telegraph.
