Simmone Logue
Simmone Logue’s creative workshops and country stay destination, Essington Park, is a celebration of her lifelong commitment to making beautiful, wholesome food that nourishes and brings joy.
Photography: Hande Renshaw
Simmone Logue at her breathtaking country property, Essington Park.
Simmone Logue has spent many ‘glorious hours’ lovingly restoring the historic buildings at Essington Park to host creative workshops.
Freshly baked sourdough and farm eggs ready for guests staying overnight.
Simmone Logue in her curated organic vegetable garden at Essington Park.
Freshly laid barn eggs are ready for breakfast each day.
“When you spend your childhood growing up on the land, it never really leaves you—when we found Essington Park, we felt like we had arrived home.”
The Essington Park 'girls'!
Vintage and preloved furniture pieces were found on Facebook Marketplace, Gumtree and even from the side of the road to furnish the property.
‘As kids we always had access to an orchard, veggie garden and chook shed—we knew where our food was coming from.’
‘Essington Park has been a haven for the both of us to escape to, fill our creative wells, and spend time with each other and the people we love.’
Essington Park, a lovingly restored historic estate and guest house near Oberon, in NSW, is just under three hours drive from Sydney.
Hello Simmone—can you introduce yourself?
My name is Simmone Logue. I am a cook, gardener, forager, writer and market-goer. I built the household brand and food business, Simmone Logue Fine Food over the past 30 years and now I love sharing my passion for food with fellow foodies through my cooking school at Essington Park. I revel in sharing my much-loved organic vegetable garden and beloved restored shearer’s quarters at Essington Park with guests from far and wide.
Tell us about the Essington Park journey…
Quite by accident, my twin sister Joanna Logue, the landscape painter, stumbled across Essington Park when she was taking in the landscape like many fellow Australian painters have done before her. There was a ‘for sale’ sign on the gate, and the rest is history. Joey and I bought the property and over the past 28 years have restored the homestead, shearers quarters and garden. It’s been a haven for the both of us to escape to, fill our creative wells, and spend time with each other and the people we love. It has brought more joy into our hearts than we could ever have imagined—you can truly fall in love with a place.
Why were you first drawn to the property and the location?
Joanna and I are country girls from Muswellbrook, in the Hunter Valley. When you spend your childhood growing up on the land it never really leaves you—when we found Essington Park, we felt like we had arrived home. Joanna used the landscape for inspiration, and I used the orchard and the circa 1860s kitchen for mine.
Many iconic Simmone Logue recipes began in the kitchen at Essington Park. I can just imagine how many meals have been created there and how many families have shared them. If only the walls could talk.
What do you love most about the spaces and experiences you’ve created?
When we renovated both the homestead and the shearers quarters, mess, and shearing shed, we did so with a light touch. We were very conscious of allowing the history of the place to shine through. We added romance, femininity and drama and used memories of our childhood in the country and imparted those onto the place to evoke that feeling to our guests.
The shearers quarters and surrounding buildings touch people’s emotions and opens them up.
What first sparked the inspiration to hold creative workshops on the property?
We have such a gorgeous space in our shearing shed and both Joanna and I are now at a stage in our creative process where we love to share our knowledge and skills from thirty or more years of cooking and painting. We also really enjoy inviting other creatives to our space, experts in fabric painting and stitching, weavers, gardeners, botanical dyers, preservers, and other great cooks!
Your workshops are a wonderful way to bring people together from near and far, why is this connection of community so important for you?
I have been so busy in my professional life. I was corporatized in the end and had to be very focused on the bottom line. It’s so lovely now to slow down, share creatively, make new friends, and also learn new skills myself from the clever people that come to teach at Essington Park. I have come full circle. I have the same feeling in my belly now as I had in the early days of the Simmone Logue Fine Food business, when I was cooking in a small shop in Balmain and feeding my customers with food that was made with love and integrity. It gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling.
‘I revel in sharing my much-loved organic vegetable garden and beloved restored shearer’s quarters at Essington Park with guests from far and wide.’
Simmone Logue’s French toast, made with sourdough baked at her Sourdough Workshop!
The property has been renovated with a very ‘light touch’, allowing the history of the place to shine through.
The charming and beautifully imperfect Essington Park workshop kitchen space.
“Essington Park has brought more joy into our hearts than we could ever have imagined—you can truly fall in love with a place.”
The Shearers’ Quarters guests rooms are perfect for those travelling from afar and need to stay overnight.
A salvaged clawfoot bath with a view in The Shearers’ Quarters.
Simmone Logue’s sweet family pup, Stretchy, the Dachshund!
Simmone Logue’s one day Sourdough Workshop shines a light onto the tricky part of making a starter, and the art of perfecting sourdough.
‘I love sharing my passion for food with fellow foodies through my cooking school at Essington Park.’
Take home your own Simmone Logue cookbook, Essington Park apron and various homeware delights after a workshop!
Simmone Logue’s delicious pickled red onions.
Essington Park has a curated organic vegetable garden for guests to pick fresh vegetables and herbs—why is home grown produce so important for you?
As kids we always had access to an orchard, veggie garden and chook shed—we knew where our food was coming from. We were fascinated by everything nature had to offer. We would forage for mushrooms and fish for crayfish, and we were always in the garden or up a tree picking fruit. It just made sense and came naturally to me that we should have an organic garden for our guests to pick from so they could have that experience too. The kids love it, and how nice is it to go and pick your salad five minutes before you put the dinner on the table? I love cooking for my workshop goers from the garden too—it always tastes better.
Most of the furniture and decorative items at Essington Park has been repurposed, purchased second-hand or handed down… was it a conscious choice to not purchase new items?
It was an absolute conscious choice to repurpose as much as we could whilst renovating and decorating both our homestead, and particularly the shearers quarters.
We re-enameled sinks and claw foot bathtubs, found pieces on Marketplace and Gumtree, and even found pieces on the side of the road. People are so wasteful—we are burning up the planet. I always say, someone’s junk is someone’s treasure!
The biggest lesson you’ve learnt during your career is…
I have learnt so many lessons along the way. There would never be enough paper to write them down, although the biggest one is to find balance. If I could do it all again, I would work hard to put the same amount of love into Simmone Logue the person, as I did Simmone Logue the brand.
What’s a piece of career advice you’ve been given or would personally give someone starting their career as a cook?
Find a great teacher and mentor, find balance, love what you do, and remember… it’s only food!
Are there any dream projects/events you aspire to undertake at Essington Park?
I am going slower these days and only doing the projects and classes that I love. Although I am bursting with excitement to collaborate with my brother and culinary hero Andy Logue to teach us the art of pasta making and all the incredible dishes he cooks in his hatted restaurant Bar Vincent. We are planning his classes for 2025. Watch this space!
What do you most love to do in your downtime on the homestead?
Cook and garden, repeat! LOL! That one is a no-brainer!!!
What’s coming up for Essington Park?
We have a busy schedule for the remainder of the year, kicking off with Penny Simons and her iconic Willow Obelisk workshop on the 23rd of October, followed by a fully booked out sourdough masterclass on the 2nd of November.
We also have Lucinda Carney from Raven Handcrafted Designs teaching us the art of botanical print making on wool garments on the 7th of November, and finally I will be teaching all my favourite Christmas recipes in my iconic Cooking For The Holidays Workshop on the 30th of November and the 7th of December.
The best thing is if you are coming from far and wide you can stay over. We would love to have you!