Edwina Bartholomew's husband makes shocking admission about plan at the centre of their unique living arrangement: 'We were fools'

Daily Mail​

9 hours ago

Renovations of the country New South Wales pub at the centre of Edwina Bartholomew and husband Neil Varcoe's unique living arrangement have hit a snag.
Neil is based in Carcoar (pop. 271), in the NSW Central West region, overseeing the remodelling of the dilapidated former guest house they bought for just over $1 million in May 2023, while Edwina lives in Sydney for her job at Seven.
Earlier this year, the popular Sunrise star and her husband, who share two children, Molly, five and Tom, three, finally received approval to move ahead with their dream to convert the building into a luxury getaway dubbed 'Saltash Farm'.
Writing in his bi-monthly column for Galah magazine, Neil revealed the protracted renovation is still not complete.
'We expected to be open by now. We were fools,' he wrote.
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'Everyone is a fool at the start. You pluck a timeline out of the air, then tell yourself that you're in front or behind. Mostly behind. How strange.'
Neil added that he has stopped putting an end-date on the project, as its aesthetic will take a while to 'pull together'.
'Saltash Farm is a big, beautiful, complex creature. It's a heritage build in a village protected by the National Trust,' he wrote.
'Saltash needs to both fit in and stand out. It has to feel old, familiar, but look new and fresh. It's a wild contradiction, and that takes some putting together.
'I no longer talk about when it will open. I say only that it will take as long as it takes to do it well.'
The popular Sunrise presenter and her husband bought the 177-year-old property in May 2023, but the project has suffered extensive delays in the heritage-protected town.
Speaking to realestate.com.au in 2024, Edwina said the couple were determined to finish the project despite recently being diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukaemia.
'We are forging ahead with this incredible project despite this health setback,' Edwina said.
'I adore being in the country. It will be lovely to have a bit more time with family to enjoy life at a slower pace.'
She added that working on the home would help keep her busy and take her mind off her cancer diagnosis.
'This is a condition I will manage and live with. Our renovation has been a beautiful distraction and will continue to be in the months to come,' Edwina continued.
Edwina also revealed that she only sees her husband of seven years on weekends and public holidays.
Neil's chronic fatigue syndrome diagnosis prompted him to leave Sydney and relocate to regional New South Wales – a move she claims 'genuinely healed him'.
'That was a decision we had to make for ourselves a few years ago because what we were doing clearly wasn't working,' she told Australian Women's Weekly.
'He lives three hours away from us, and we see him on weekends and holidays and back and forth, but it's been the best thing, and probably the only way we would have survived as a family.'
Edwina confirmed to Daily Mail Australia earlier this year that her family does indeed plan to leave Sydney for good one day - but that is still quite a way off.
'We are very keen to eventually settle in the country,' she said.
'But we are in no hurry.
'We have the best of both worlds and will continue to juggle the back and forth for the foreseeable future.'
'Our family schedule and WhatsApp chat of who is where and what is happening is absolutely nuts,' she added.
'There are plenty of times where we have thought "what we have done" but we are determined to build a beautiful business in what we think is the most beautiful town in New South Wales.'
Meanwhile, Edwina shared an emotional cancer update at Marie Claire's International Women's Day luncheon in March.
The TV star got candid at the event about how CML – a type of blood and bone marrow cancer – had impacted her life.
'I was fortunate that I had a month where I knew about it before I told everyone. I had this experience without having to go through the trauma of chemotherapy,' Edwina began.
'[The cancer] was a gift, because it put things into perspective... I didn't have to go through a really intense experience of being "in" cancer and absorbed by it.'
Edwina's diagnosis is a 'mild' form of leukaemia and can often be managed without having to undergo chemotherapy.