Harcourt Valley Community House

Date: 31 July 2025

We chatted with Jeanette Teague, Voluntary Manager, to find out about what's on offer at Harcourt Valley Community House.

What inspired you and the team at Harcourt Valley Community House to open up the space for micro and small business owners?

The Harcourt Valley Community House (HVCH) is an unfunded community house. Unlike most community houses across Victoria, we do not receive recurrent state government funding to pay a manager or cover the usual building overheads, therefore we have to find ways to raise funds ourselves. At the same time, it is one of our primary purposes to help our community be a vibrant place to live, work and visit. Providing affordable, comfortable and appropriate space for a small business to start up (or to grow) is one of the ways we are striving to do that.

Could you tell us a bit about the space and facilities?

HVCH is housed in an old railway station - it is a VicTrack-owned, beautifully restored period building, circa 1870. The building was made available to the Harcourt Progress Association (our “parent” body) in 2022/23. Since then, with the assistance of grants, we have made significant enhancements to the building including a refurbished kitchen, carpark lighting and a security system. Wifi, heating, cooling, all abilities bathroom access, ample car parking and some office furniture are all included. There are dedicated lockable rooms upstairs and shared office space downstairs, plus a large multipurpose room.

What would you say to encourage local entrepreneurs or home-based businesses to come in and make use of the space?

This is a quaint, attractive space to which you can confidently invite your clients for a meeting. There is the occasional noise of a passing train (for about 5 seconds…it is seriously fast, but honestly, it becomes a humorous talking point which you actually get accustomed to, and it becomes a part of the background. We are aiming to keep our prices affordable as we want to encourage as many people to use this amazing space as possible.  

Call Jeanette on 0438 579 987 or email below to book a tour or enquire about the possibilities of making use of the space.