Clover Cottage Estate Reopens in Berwick with Restaurant and Brasserie

Clover Cottage Estate returns to Berwick

Set across three hectares at 54–60 Manuka Road, Clover Cottage Estate brings new hospitality life to a property with roots stretching back to the late 19th century.

The restored estate now offers two distinct ways to dine. The Restaurant takes the more formal route, serving lunch and dinner amid marble fireplaces, chandeliers and oil paintings. The Brasserie is the relaxed counterpart, opening for breakfast, lunch and dinner with indoor and terrace seating overlooking the gardens.

Mark Protheroe, co-owner of Paradise Valley Hotel and The Recreation, and Katrina Brueckner are behind the estate’s latest chapter.

Two menus, from breakfast to dinner

The Restaurant leans towards European flavours, with dishes including beef tartare, osso bucco and magret de canard. Desserts continue the classical approach, from Bombe Alaska to almond and tigernut frangipane tart, while a cheese trolley gives diners another way to finish.

The Brasserie broadens the choice across the day and includes a children’s menu. Breakfast might mean an omelette, French toast or croque monsieur, while later meals move through charcuterie, steak frites, gnocchi and market fish. Crème brûlée and bread and butter pudding feature among the desserts.

The terrace should prove particularly appealing as the weather warms, opening the dining experience onto gardens that are as significant to Clover Cottage as the buildings themselves.

A garden with an unusual Melbourne history

Clover Cottage and its garden are protected under the City of Casey’s Heritage Overlay. The heritage significance extends beyond the cottage to the landscape and its remarkable collection of camellias.

Tea merchant and conservationist Frederick Stevens Tuckfield acquired the property in the 1950s. Best known for Ty-nee Tips Tea, Tuckfield was also a dedicated camellia grower and became president of the Australian Camellia Research Society. He developed 25 camellia cultivars at Clover Cottage.

Landscape consultant John Stevens designed the garden around 1955, incorporating existing plantings and Tuckfield’s growing collection. Tuckfield also advocated gardening practices that were unusually environmentally conscious for the period, including mulching, careful watering and avoiding pesticides and insecticides.

Those layers remain part of a garden subsequently shaped by former owners Trevor Burr, John Chipperfield and Engelina Chipperfield, who operated Clover Cottage as a restaurant from 1979 until its closure in the 2010s.

The original cottage is next

The reopening restores a familiar Berwick name while giving the estate a broader future. Work is continuing on the original weatherboard homestead, with accommodation planned to open in 2027.

Guests will eventually be able to book one, two or three-bedroom configurations, extending Clover Cottage beyond dining and events into overnight stays.

For now, the focus is firmly on the table. The Restaurant is open for lunch and dinner, while The Brasserie covers breakfast through to dinner, giving visitors several ways to rediscover one of Berwick’s most distinctive heritage properties.