Montville, with its eclectic mix of largely European-inspired architecture, is one of the few places on the Sunshine Coast that can honestly be described as a “village”.
The days of providing a general store, post office and garage for local residents ended in the late 1970s, and since then it has continued evolving as a centre for arts and fine dining, galleries and trendy cafes.
This evolution brought with it a main street lined with shopfronts carefully designed to foster the feeling of “ye olde England”, a sense supported by the Village Green, St Mary’s Church and the quaint bridge over the road on the way to the superb lookout point behind its school.
Out of town, which is often crowded with tourists, is the sportsground and the picnic perfect Lake Baroon recreation area.
The central Range town between Mapleton and Maleny, Montville is accessed from the east by either the long and winding Palmwoods-Montville road or the rough short cut “up the Razorback”, both out of Palmwoods. Statisticians include it as part of the Palmwoods district but on the ground, the two share few interests.
As well as million dollar properties with views along the edge of the range, there are smaller estates to the west but conscious of its unique opportunity, a lot of agonising went into residential planning in the 1990s in an effort to retain its amenity.
Summing up: Montville has extremely limited residential land near the village and along the escarpment but is backed by green hills offering both acreage and estate allotments. A trendy little place 30 minutes from the coast, it is a picture perfect spot to retire.
