Ross Farm, Meeniyan, Victoria: Elegant-design conversion creates a new stylish farm stay

Adventurers gunning it down the South Gippsland Highway to Wilsons Promontory have a new reason to pull over en route, with the expansion of the shire's most stylish dairy farm.

Two hours east of Melbourne, the village of Meeniyan is home to one of the style bellwethers for the region, Ross Farm. Last year, the daughter-father team of Andrea and Lindsay Moore converted one of the farm's outbuildings into the simple, stylish Cabin. Now, they have added the two-bedroom Dairy and three-bedroom Barn to the mix.

The three cottages use the footprints of the original farm sheds, their corrugated-iron frames reborn for a new purpose.

"We need to protect this agricultural architecture," says Lindsay, who did all the woodwork to Andrea's design concepts.

Run your hand across the Tasmanian oak table to appreciate its tactile surface, or follow the line of the barn's steel spiral stairwell, which spells out the simplicity of the reconstruction. The design uses all natural, non-toxic building materials such as unfinished concrete, raw brass, pink granite and blackened timbers. Leather banquettes, wood fires and cowhide rugs complete the picture.

"It's all a bit raw," says Lindsay. He is being modest. There are unexpected touches of luxury, such as the rectangular Japanese-style local cypress and steel bath upstairs in the barn's mezzanine level. In the Dairy, whole walls of industrial windows roll away to open the sprawling building up to the thick green grass and undulating hills of the Tarwin Valley.

Each of the farm buildings fits into a jigsaw so it has its own views and privacy, plus there are outdoor fire pits and views over the treetops, vegie gardens and eggs from the hens.

Add to your stay a long lunch at the bountiful Meeniyan Pantry, a gin tasting at Loch Distillery or afternoon tea in Korrumburra's vast The Borough cafe, and you may feel no need to continue any further down to the Prom.

Weekday stays start from $267 a night in the Cabin (sleeps two), from $405 a night in the Barn (sleeps four) and from $478 in the Dairy (sleeps six), two-night minimum. Book the entire property's six bedrooms from $1050 a night, weekdays. See rossfarm.com.au