Chris and Wendy Holland (of Holland Building Developments) and their family were based in Queensland for many years. Whilst Chris grew up in Melbourne, and the couple develops multi-million dollar properties in Toorak, they had never entertained the idea of holidaying on the Mornington Peninsula (mainly because of the weather!).

However once their children had finished school they decided to look for a holiday home on the Peninsula, and after recommendations for Mt Martha they investigated the property market. “Once we decided to explore holiday homes in Mt Martha, we visited the area – we walked around Mt Martha Village and had dinner at Volpino – and we just knew it was the place for us. Within a few weeks we had bought our first Mornington Peninsula home,” explains Wendy.

That was four years ago, in 2017. Because Chris and Wendy have a building background they naturally bought a house to renovate. However within a few weeks they realised that they love nothing more than sitting back and relaxing when they are in Mt Martha. 

Says Wendy, “So why would we want to renovate? Four months later we moved into a home that was only a few months old that didn’t require any renovation at all.” Chris did question why they would want to move into another builder’s house, and Wendy’s answer was “because it’s already finished and we can just sit back and relax and enjoy.” The couple then decided to buy another property close to the Village, so within 12 months they had bought three properties in Mt Martha. “I always believe what’s mean to be will be, and it all just fell into place.”

Wendy and Chris fell in love with the village feeling of Mt Martha. Says Wendy, “We knew that the shopping area couldn’t grow any bigger and that there wouldn’t be any large developments in the area. And we there is such a sense of community. We have two dogs and through walking our dogs and enjoying all that Mt Martha Village has to offer, we have made more friends in the last six months than we ever did in Melbourne. The laid-back lifestyle and peaceful, calming environment is perfect for us. So much so that our grown up children who love the Melbourne lifestyle have also moved to the Peninsula. They love the Mt Martha community too and want to raise their families here. It has actually surprised me how much we love it, and the weekender became our permanent home.”

Holland Building Developments is still going strong. Chris and Wendy purchase a parcel of land or an old house in Toorak and build a new house that they then sell for $10 million to $19 million. 

“We don’t build for clients,” explains Wendy. “We build to sell. Chris is the Project Manager, and our two sons work with us, along with quite a large team. I studied interior design many years ago so I take care of the interiors. We feel so blessed to have a business that doesn’t actually feel like work because we love what we do." 

"We have spent the last 18 months building our forever family home in Mt Martha which we just moved into a few weeks ago – and it feels amazing. We are very busy people but we are also very good at doing nothing and enjoying the pleasure of life, just relaxing at South Beach and enjoying Mt Martha Village.”