Valley House

‘Valley House’ is a hidden oasis – a home and a garden full to the brim with the design skill and ethos of its owners. Joel Barker and Hannah Pannell’s new family home is located down a quiet street in White Gum Valley near Walyalup/Fremantle and is a simple, joyous reflection of their personalities, their passion for West Australian landscapes and the simple, rural architectural feel that defined their own childhood memories. 

Both hailing from the South West of WA, the couple’s dream was to create a sustainable, modest home redolent with rural character on the smallest footprint possible – a sacrifice deemed necessary to make way for a substantial productive suburban garden that Joel and Hannah fondly describe as ‘West Australian Mediterranean’.

As the co-founders of Studio Barker, one of Perth’s most respected boutique landscape architecture firms, Joel and Hannah have developed a deep connection with Walyalup/Fremantle’s landscape heritage. When they found a hidden rear lot in White Gum Valley shaded by four mature native trees and bound by a character-rich limestone rubble wall, they knew it was the perfect spot to design their family’s new home and garden.