Film producer Scott Corfield and sister Jodie Bradnam – clinical psychologist and co-host of Addicted Podcast – grew up in Burleigh Heads in the late 70’s, and have been Gold Coast locals ever since. As children, the siblings would spend holidays in Springbrook national park and, through shared memories, built an affinity with the place. Now both parents themselves, Jodie and Scott built Heartwood Cabin as a place for them and their children to reconnect with nature, with each other, and with the creative forces that natural beauty can inspire.
We reached out to Scott and Jodie to learn about the journey of creating Heartwood, and how this magical woodland cabin has shaped and enhanced their families lives.
Tell us about Heartwood Cabin
Heartwood Cabin is a family cabin and creative space nestled into the forests of Springbrook amongst the World Heritage listed Gondwana Rainforests. It overlooks an untouched section of the national park near Purlingbrook Falls and in the distance has spectacular views of the Gold Coast stretching from Burleigh Heads right up to Stradbroke Island.
Our two families purchased the 6000m2 land in early 2018 in our family trusts, with the dream of building a family retreat that’s never to be sold but rather passed down to our children and their children’s children. As a concept it’s best described as a family legacy project that will keep our two families close as we all get older, and will hopefully serve as a tool for our children to learn about the importance of looking after our natural environment, as well as managing a property and the responsibilities that come with it’s upkeep.
Tell us about what Springbrook means to you as a place
Springbrook is truly a special place and one that our parents (Alan & Deanne Corfield) have been taking Jodie and I to since we were both very little. I never appreciated it at the time but Jodie and I have grown up with this wonderful tradition of early morning family BBQ’s in the mountains on an open fire followed by hikes in the rainforests. These old cast iron public Springbrook BBQ’s have now been replaced with electric ones but lucky for us we now have our own wood fired BBQ at Heartwood so the tradition of cutting your own wood to cook breakfast with shall continue.
The ethos of Heartwood Cabin is very much about reconnecting to nature. Can you tell us about the decision to create the space? Was this something you’d dreamt of creating for a while or was there a moment which you realised that you needed to make this happen?
Creating a place like Heartwood is something our family has talked about in some form for a while but more so in a wishful “wouldn’t it be great if” sense than anything real. I always remember this incredible life affirming movie starring Kevin Klein called Life As a House where the main character builds this amazing timber and glass house on a cliff and that’s perhaps subconsciously been a source of inspiration for me as we found our way through this project.
Most great ideas start small and so it was that my wife Rachel and I went driving up the mountain with our daughter one day in heavy rain and we fortuitously stumbled on this amazing block of land that opened up at the end of it to the most breath-taking views. We knew right away that we needed to do something with this and so called my sister and my parents who also contributed funds to the project and we took the leap not knowing what challenges lay ahead. It was a leap of faith and one that I’m grateful for every time I drive down it’s winding 180m long driveway.
The space itself is spectacular, can you tell us about the design and building process?
The building we ended up with was the second design as the first like many dream projects was just far too expensive for the realities of the location. At Heartwood we are surrounded on three sides by rainforest and a cliff to the east so the BAL fire ratings and the wind ratings made the structural design and finishes needed for council approval considerably more expensive than first hoped.
The initial sketches were done by me but there is a long way from those to a full set of architectural drawings with all the embellishments that you can then use to have someone build from, so for that we were very lucky to find a very talented and committed architect like Hooman Jaffah from Real-space Creative.
The decor is so stunning – tell us about your inspiration
For the decor we really tried to go with something timeless but a style that also suits a cabin in the forest. One piece of advice I received from another local that lives permanently up in Springbrook was “always remember nature will win in the end so be sure to build something that suits the conditions of the area. It proved to be very good advice.
What were some ideas you had in mind in terms of aligning with your ethos? ie. off grid, only using natural materials, made yourself, unique design approach, solar powered etc.
We’d have loved to be fully off grid at Heartwood Cabin but with so many trees around us the solar system we have on the roof was estimated to not provide enough for the amount of power we were likely to use. As it turns out, our solar system works well enough to cancel out our power bills each quarter so that’s probably the next best thing. The rest of the cabin is off grid and it really is good to know we are minimising any impact we have on the local ecosystem.
What about Heartwood Cabin are you most proud of?
I’m really proud of the family effort and collaboration this project took to make happen, from the driveways, front gates and even turfing and then the planting of an additional 750 native trees in a few areas of the block that had been taken over by lantana. Those memories and many more will be with us all for as long as we are around.
What were some of the challenges of the project?
Keeping to our budget was always the biggest challenge as so many things arise that aren’t expected at the outset. In the end we did go over budget but not by all that much.
What would a perfect day at Heartwood look like?
Heartwood is such a great place to cook, read or just work on a creative project of your own so a perfect day Heartwood has all of those with a hike to one of the nearby waterfalls and then an afternoon canoe paddle on the Hinze Dam that we also glimpse in the corner of the valley.
The space is very much about connecting with creativity, nature and family. Is there one particular memory that speaks to the magic of the space?
To fit the cabin into the space we unfortunately had to clear a couple of large trees but we used those to make an outdoor dining table and a large seat that overlooks the Gold Coast. Seeing us gather at these two spots on an afternoon with black cockatoos flying overhead is something special.
To learn more about the Heartwood story and book your stay at this very special space, visit Heartwoodcabin.com.au . For dreamy images of Springbrook, follow Heartwood Cabin on Instagram @heartwoodcabin
photo credit @danreardon122