THE Eleven Acres STORY

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Our Story by Jeff and Liz Lennox

Eleven Acres started out as our family property. We purchased the land in 1992 from John Santalucia to have room to expand Jeff's building business and to provide space for our family of three kids - Sam, Tom and Phoebe. The property was originally surrounded by bush, cane fields and small crops where now there are streets and houses. Initially we lived in our newly constructed funky "shed". It was cramped but fun!

The house itself took 5 years to build, as our funds allowed. It was designed by Bruce Medek working for Guymer Bailey architects at the time. We wanted a design to reflect the homestead vernacular with several buildings clustered together and accessed with walkways of different style and scale. Bruce has stayed with us throughout the past 25 years as architect and friend and his continued input has given cohesion and flair to the property's evolving design and purpose.

We have many good memories of our family times in the home as the family grew up and gradually left home. Jeff continued to use the property for his building business up to June 2017.

The most pivotal moment in the history of Eleven Acres was in January 2013 when our property along with thousands of others in Bundaberg was flooded. This set off a chain of events which helped make the decision to lift the entire house ( in four sections!) and refurbish it as a commercial property.

A completely new building was added - the commercial kitchen and the existing living area was extended to create a much larger space to cater for events and a restaurant. The original bedroom wing and the self contained studio and guest room were all retained and refurbished to provide luxury boutique accommodation. We were pleased that our first "real" event was our son and his fiancé's wedding in June 2016.

This complex and expansive plan has taken over two years to complete. We are proud that many local subcontractors and suppliers as well as our sons have been involved in that process. Jeff has many more ideas for the spaces around the property, so in many ways Eleven Acres is a working "work in progress".  

Our goals for Eleven Acres include providing a place and space for fine food, for celebration and for fun with family and friends.

And so continues the story....