It never rains in Nashville, except when it pours. Today, the drizzly aftermath of an overnight deluge has put something of a damper on Nicole Kidman's plans to meet at a bucolic spot in her new hometown. A damper but not a deterrent. As any observer of her life knows, Kidman is not someone who will let a little stormy weather throw her off stride. And so, rolling up in her black sports car with tinted windows, she jumps out wearing sensible walking shoes and brandishing an umbrella like a latter-day, strawberry-blonde Mary Poppins, game for anything.

Walking is something Kidman likes to do. Her father, a former marathon runner, made a habit of taking Nicole and her sister "out and about" in the Sydney hills, which this place reminds her of and which is just one of the reasons Kidman feels so at home here. As we strike out from the car park, rounding a corner of a trail to lovely views of forest and water, Kidman shows off the landscape with almost proprietary pride, pointing out a tree where a barn owl roosts and a misty lake where swans sail and beavers beaver away. "It's very tranquil," she says contentedly. "I come here most days. Sometimes I'll do a little meditation here in the morning."

"A Brand New Day," photographed by Mario Testino, has been edited for Style.com; the complete story appears in the December 2006 issue of Vogue.

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