Where the Forest Meets the Front DoorThe quiet rewards of building in the Dandenong Ranges.
Clean forest air, room for children to roam, and village life an hour from the city. Here is why the hills are one of Melbourne’s most rewarding places to build a home.
Some forty kilometres east of the city, the road begins to climb. Suburban streets give way to tree ferns and towering mountain ash, the air turns cool and green, and the pace of the day softens. For more than a century, Melburnians have come to the Dandenong Ranges to breathe a little deeper. Increasingly, they are choosing to stay. For many, living in the Dandenong Ranges begins with one decision: to build here.
At Goycon, we have had the privilege of building here, from our Selby Project beside Monbulk Creek to our Passiv Haus in Kallista. Each home has reminded us what draws people to the hills: a setting that supports good health, a rich family life and a genuine sense of belonging.
A rainforest on your doorstep
Few cities can claim a cool temperate rainforest within an hour’s drive of the CBD. Parks Victoria describes the Ranges as a rainforest getaway on Melbourne’s doorstep, where hills are covered by mountain ash, the world’s tallest flowering tree, and lyrebirds, wallabies, wombats and the Powerful Owl live among the greenery.1
Much of this landscape has been protected since the nineteenth century, and its parklands were brought together as the Dandenong Ranges National Park in 1987.2 For residents, that means waterfalls, fern gullies and the famous 1000 Steps are not a special-occasion drive away. They become part of an ordinary Tuesday.
The hills also offer something rare so close to a capital city: four truly distinct seasons. Spring arrives in a wash of blossom, summer days are softened by the shade of the canopy, autumn turns the exotic gardens to amber and gold, and in most years the higher villages even see a light dusting of snow.2 Each season brings its own reason to step outside, and its own view from the window.
Air that restores
Step outside in the Ranges and the first thing you notice is the air: cool, damp and scented with eucalypt. That fragrance is more than pleasant. Trees release aromatic compounds known as phytoncides, and research led by Dr Qing Li of Nippon Medical School in Tokyo has studied their effect on people.
In Li’s studies of shinrin-yoku, or “forest bathing”, short trips into the forest increased the activity and number of natural killer cells, part of the immune system’s front line, with the boost lasting for days afterwards. Participants also reported more vigour and less anxiety.3 In the hills, that kind of forest air is simply the air at home. It is one of the quiet advantages of building in the Dandenong Ranges.
A walk in the forest is not an outing here. It is the view from the kitchen window.
Good for body and mind
The wider science points the same way. A landmark review from the University of East Anglia drew on more than 140 studies covering over 290 million people. It found that spending time in, or living close to, green space is associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, along with lower blood pressure, heart rate and levels of the stress hormone cortisol.4
Nature also gives the mind room to settle. In a Stanford study published in PNAS, a 90-minute walk in a natural setting reduced rumination, the habit of dwelling on negative thoughts, and quietened activity in a region of the brain linked to it.5 In the Ranges, a 90-minute walk begins at the front gate.
A wonderful place to grow up
For families, the case is especially compelling. A study of 2,593 schoolchildren in Barcelona, published in PNAS, found that children surrounded by more greenery at home and at school showed greater gains in working memory and attention over a single year.6 More recently, researchers following 3,568 London students aged 9 to 15 found that those with the most daily exposure to woodland scored higher for cognitive development and had a 16 per cent lower risk of emotional and behavioural problems.7
Children in the hills grow up with that woodland as their backyard. Weekends can mean a ride on Puffing Billy, a picnic at Grants or Sherbrooke, or spring at the Dandenong Ranges Botanic Garden in Olinda, where more than 15,000 rhododendrons, 12,000 azaleas and 250,000 daffodils burst into colour.8 For young families, building in the Dandenong Ranges means the forest becomes part of childhood.
Village life, close to the city
Tourism Australia calls the Ranges “the cool, green lungs of Melbourne”, and the region’s villages give that greenery a heart.9 Olinda, Sassafras and Belgrave are known for their galleries, bakeries, cafés and independent shops, the kind of places where the barista knows your order and your neighbours know your name.
Yet the city is never far away. The Ranges sit about an hour from Melbourne by car, and the Belgrave train line links the hills to the city’s rail network,9, 10 making it possible to work in town and come home to the forest each evening. It is this balance of city access and forest calm that makes living in the Dandenong Ranges so rewarding.
Building in the Dandenong Ranges: a home that belongs to its landscape
As a Dandenong Ranges builder, we know the best hills homes are designed around their site rather than imposed upon it. At Goycon, we work with the natural slope, protect established trees wherever we can, and orient glazing to frame the forest and capture winter sun. Our homes are built to energy-efficient and Passive House principles, with airtight, well-insulated envelopes and fresh, filtered air, so they stay calm, comfortable and quiet in every season. Building a Passive House in the Dandenong Ranges means comfort that suits the hills’ cool, misty climate.
The result is a home that feels like part of the landscape: warm on a misty winter morning, open to the canopy in summer, and surrounded by one of the most beautiful natural settings in Victoria.
Dreaming of a home in the hills?
We’d love to hear about your block, your family and the way you want to live. Let’s start the conversation.
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