Jase Hounsell and April Hill, the new owners of the Farmers Inn, with chef Mark Wilde, have brought new life to the pub in the tiny village of Burrumbuttock. Photo: Vanessa Hayden.
Burrumbuttock’s Farmers Inn Hotel has been revitalised with new owners and a chef breathing fresh life into the watering hole whose history spans 144 years.
Jindera couple Jase Hounsell and April Hill purchased the pub in May this year and relocated to the tiny village, with sleeves pulled up, overalls donned and tools at the ready.
Two months in and they say they have been overwhelmed by the support they have received.
The pair was well known to district locals who regularly stopped for a coffee or other hot beverage and a chat at their popular mobile van on the Urana and Walla roads corner on the outskirts of Jindera.
“I figured doing coffee for 20 years was enough,” said Jase, who started Mugachino drive-through in Lavington in 2011 before selling in 2020.
“We also wanted something we could both do together.”
It’s a tough gig taking on a rundown pub, but both agreed they were up for the challenge. They share all tasks equally and each spends time serving customers, cleaning, restocking and renovating.
“We’ve revamped the bar area and done a lot of painting and we’ve started building a new beer garden out the front. It looks great with people sitting out there,” Jase said.
“We’ll get a roof over it soon and we’re both looking forward to the warmer months.
“The cleaning and beautifying has been the hardest part so far, there was a lot more to do than we expected. The easy part was the opening, the locals have been awesome.
“It’s been quite overwhelming for everybody.”
Jase and April reckon they’ll dedicate 15 years to building up the pub to a destination in its own right, although for April, finding herself a publican has come as a bit of a surprise.
“If you had asked me five years ago what I thought I’d be doing now, I wouldn’t have said this!
“We were originally just looking at buying a house but then this came along, so now we have a house, some land and a pub.
“We are looking forward to the future. We’ve said we’ll give it 15 years but people keep saying to us, ‘You won’t be here in 15 years!”’
Jase added: “In 15 years, we’ll be ready for retirement.” To which April quipped: “Or we may have killed one another by then.”
Chef Mark Wilde has been recruited to look after things in the kitchen. He’s spent the past three years feeding the locals at the Walbundrie Pub and before that was at Bowna’s Great Aussie Holiday Park for nine years.
“I grew up with food, my family in Cobram had a catering business and I started working with them when I was young,” Mark said.
“I went on to work at the Tocumwal Golf Club and spent some time at Brown Brothers in Milawa before eventually finding myself up in this area.
“It’s very much about getting the locals back in here at Burrum.
“We are concentrating on being a family-friendly pub and it’s good to see families back here having tea. We’ve had three lots of families coming in every Friday night since we started serving meals. It’s a great thing that they’ve got somewhere to go now.”
April reiterated how they have been embraced by the community.
“Everyone’s so friendly and so willing to help. We’ve even got someone that brings us firewood, I love it,” she said.
There was still plenty more hard slog to go, Jase said, with more painting and renovating in the coming months and extended hours on the cards.
Jase is also known for his skills in the kitchen and is a dab hand at producing succulent smoked-meat dishes.
“Once we’ve got over a few more hurdles, we’ll start ramping up the smoked-meat dishes,” he said.
”We do a brisket burger on Wednesday nights and that is steadily getting more popular. People are excited to try something a bit different.
“We’ll work on demand – if it’s there, we’ll go with it.”
The Farmers Inn Hotel is open Wednesdays to Saturdays from 4 pm and Sundays from 11 am. There’s a burger night on Wednesdays, and evening meals are served Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 6 to 8 o’clock. Lunch is served on Sundays between noon and 2 pm. You can follow the pub on Facebook.
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