This mansion is haunted…by painted ladies.

Collingwood based artist Rone has been unleashed upon early 1930’s mansion Burnham Beeches; which has not been in proper use or accessible to the public since the nineties. Current custodian Shannon Bennett and his business partner have grand designs, in coming years, to transform the Art Moderne mansion into a luxury retreat and for the wider estate to host, among other things, a brewery, a truffière, even an emu farm. For now, interior stylist Carly Spooner has morphed the heritage space into an abandoned, overgrown (via Loose Leaf), broke-down wonderland for Rone’s works to temporarily reside. Virtual and augmented reality – even sound and scent immersion – accent the experience.

/ Virtually sold out, the only way to see the Empire exhibition is via a (yes, expensive) wine dinner whipped up by Vue De Monde’s chef Justin James at the Piggery Cafe on the estate, winning your way in, or by making a mini-break of it by staying at a partner hotel in the Yarra Ranges.