MAFS guru’s quiet $1.6m move

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MAFS resident guru John Aiken. Picture: Instagram

Married At First Sight psychologist John Aiken and interior designer wife Kelly Swanson-Roe have sold their Hunter Valley weekender for about $1.6m.

The four-bedroom, three-bathroom Pokolbin house, set within The Vintage estate, had been decorated since its $1.52m purchase in 2023.

It had been a $430 a night short-term rental.

Married At First Sight psychologist John Aiken and interior designer wife Kelly Swanson-Roe have sold their Hunter Valley weekender.

“Set along the 15th fairway within The Vintage, with open views across the fairway and water, it’s designed for people who want their weekends to actually feel like something — social, easy, and a little bit indulgent,” the listing for the property read.

The house centres around one main idea: everyone together, without trying too hard. The living space is open, light-filled and connected — high ceilings, a fireplace for winter, and a natural flow straight out to the terrace. It’s the kind of layout where a few friends turn into ten, and no one feels in the way. It’s fun, its unpretentious and its all done for you.

The home sold for around $1.6m

It sits alongside The Vintage golf course.

“The kitchen is built for that same energy — long, social, and part of the room rather than tucked away. You’re cooking, pouring a drink, talking — all at once.”

They recently paid $5.1m in Middle Cove after pocketing $6m in Willoughby East.

It is a six-bedroom, three-bathroom house with study.

The three-level home was quietly bought off-market through Richardson & Wrench agents Chris Downie and Mark O’Brien last November.

Aiken had owned the home for three years.

An outer view of the Pokolbin home.

It was marketed as being a “Tuscan-inspired family estate”.

There is a resort-style 12m saltwater pool on its 800sq m-plus holding, with an adjacent covered pergola and alfresco terrace with grape vine – its cutting of Shiraz having come from Tyrell’s Winery in the Hunter Valley.

The house, with 336 bottle wine cellar, was last sold in 2005, also by Mark O’Brien, for $1,766,000.