Fairfax Media director Michael Anderson has renewed hopes in the Southern Highlands: Title Tattle
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Hopewood House (pictured above), the occasional Southern Highlands retreat of current Fairfax Media director Michael Anderson and his wife, Susie, has been freshly listed with Bill Bridges and Meagan Cotten at Ballard Property with $7 million hopes. The latest marketing says its "renowned as one of Sydney's premier wedding venues." Set on about five hectares of gardens on Bowral's outskirts, Hopewood House dates back to 1884 when built by Ben Osborne and his wife, Lucy Throsby. The grand Dutch colonial-style mansion first sold in the early 1900s to Lebbeus Hordern, a son of Samuel Hordern and a grandson of retail company founder Anthony Hordern.
Hopewood was listed it in 2010 with $10 million hopes, with the couple signalling they were off to Paris, France for two years, with Michael Anderson travelling back regularly for his corporate commitments while Susie pursued her passion for French antique trading. Susie set up her interior decorating company, French & Country about ten years ago, following the sale of their then country house in the Blue Mountains. Anderson’s radio commitments have meant his time in France has been less than initially anticipated. Hopewood offers weddings with the backdrop of the grand mansion with the indoor ceremony location being within the conservatory room, which is adorned with crystal chandeliers.
Bridges had recent success in the high-end wedding venue market when Woodbyne near Berry was sold sold for $5 million to Rosie Jennings, who's set to expand her wedding venue operations from its existing base, Terrara House Estate outside Nowra. Set in gardens with avenues, garden rooms and a swimming pool, Woodbyne was developed by entrepreneur and designer John Pegrum. Woodbyne was sold by Jeff and Annette Moore, who bought it from Pegrum for $942,000 in 1997. When Pegrum bought the property two deacdes earlier the Woodbyne weatherboard former schoolhouse building was in a dilapidated state in a bare paddock.
Golfing enthusiast Frank Williams, who helped Greg Norman set up Great White Shark Enterprises, has sold his Bowral property. Its most recent McGrath Estate Agents asking price was $2.85 million, and Title Tattle gathers it went very close. Williams paid $3.2 million in 2005, having initially moved to the highlands in 2000.
It was a case of keeping up with the Joneses in the Southern Highlands when Michael Jones, former owner of Rex Airlines, and wife Michelle bought their 44-hectare Fitzroy Falls estate (pictured above) next door to the weekender of radio broadcaster Alan Jones. With their cattle interests now far further south into NSW, it’s been listed through Drew Lindsay at Drew Lindsay Browal with a $5.5 million asking price. With no background in cattle, Michael and Michelle founded Aberdeen Estate Angus in 2008 after his career in aviation, merchant banking and international yachting. The farming couple hit the headlines in 2009 after paying a record $42,000 for powerhouse donor matron Ardrossan Princess W38 from the Bulle family, of Holbrook. The most recent press had them having a stud herd of around 88 cows, 105 recipients and 350 commercial females all split between Fitzroy Falls and Tumut, in southern NSW where they have a 2,105-hectare property The Poplars which was bought in 2010. It also runs a flock of 2,500 superfine Merino ewes. Michael Jones’s other passion is sailing, having been the director of the Olympic sailing team for the Beijing Olympics. Jones founded Rex in 2002 by merging the remains of Ansett subsidiaries Kendell and Hazelton.
After 15 years' ownership, medico David Smith and wife Bernadette are selling Whare-Tau (pictured above), their 1904 Exeter property, with $3.3 million-plus expectations through Drew Lindsay at Drew Lindsay Real Estate Bowral. The restored four-bedroom Federation residence, with extensions, stands on three hectares. Just 18 years ago, Title Tattle recalls that inspections of the house were like discovering a colonial Miss Havisham's home, with climbing vines inside the residence, cobwebs on the chandeliers, cupboards of mildewed books on the 1798 Irish Rebellion, even emus in the back paddock. James Aubusson, executor of spinster Hope Meek, sold off the then 30-hectare Exeter Road holding for $925,000 to developers Bill Shipton and Mark Bouris, who subdivided it. Title Tattle recollects that Meek, aged 86 on her death, had been buried in the family's South Head Cemetery tomb, though her probated 1988 will directed that no name plate should be affixed. The 1993 contents auction of Meek's house, which was bought in 1958 for £11,000, included her barrister father's cornet, used while serving with the 12th Battalion in France during World War I, and her mother's ivory and silver fan, a gift from an Indian maharajah. Whare-Tau, Maori for "Our home", has been restored, with the kauri floorboards having underfloor heating. It stands on a hillside in park-like grounds, which include a restored corn-drying shed believed to date from Henry Badgery's ownership.
The two-storey 1832 sandstone White Horse Inn at Berrima has sold for $1.44 million to television industry pioneer Reg Grundy and his wife, Joy Chambers, who intend to use the building as a private museum. The township is not far from their rural retreat, Comfort Hill, which cost a record $15 million when acquired in 2007 from businessman Michael Ball and his wife, Daria. The Georgian-style White Horse is set on a 5,583-square-metre Wingecarribee River holding sitting prominently on the rise of the Old Hume Highway. Title Tattle seems to recall that it was originally the home of Ben and Lucy Osborne. For the past eight decades it's been a restaurant, having last traded for $1.79 million to the Klumper family in 2009. The neighbouring heritage commercial property is owned by mining tycoon Andrew Forrest's family and it accommodates the Berrima district museum.
The Mittagong residence Taliesen, named after the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture in Wisconsin, has been sold. Designed to take full advantage of the views, the single-level house has floor-to-ceiling glass on its northern side. Built in the 1960s and renovated in the 1990s, it sits on a 7,643-square-metre holding, which last traded for $385,000 in 1983. Located high on Mount Gibraltar, with a tennis court and pool, it’s set on a former walnut grove, hence the two dozen 60-year-old walnut trees in its gardens. It was initially listed in 2010 with $3.3 million hopes. No sale price indication has been offered by Drew Lindsay Real Estate.
Dandaloo, the 40-hectare Canyonleigh farm, has been bought by equestrians Sam Lyle and Nicola TURNER. Family matriarch Putch Lyle has assisted with the $1.15 million purchase by taking a third equity. It was listed through Andrew Hearn Real Estate. The eight-paddock property comes with a five-bedroom brick house along with a complex with 13 stables, covered round-yard, feed room and a separate hay shed located near the second cottage.
And ever on the lookout for the start of a possible trend, Title Tattle notes the first substantial lifestyle farm acquisition by Chinese buyers within the highlands. It was when the Lin family paid $7.15 million for Gleneagle (pictured above), the 40-hectare Mittagong property, which sold through Richardson & Wrench Bowral agent Mick Maloney. Perched 830 metres above sea level, it overlooks the 75,000-hectare National Park back towards the distant Sydney skyline. The 2001-built house was Alpine lodge style – cosy with huge open fireplaces, warm timber finishes and authentic Snowy Mountains granite stone work inside and out. The Lins export wine from the Canberra region to China, as their customers love the fruity shiraz. The family were the $8.5 million buyers of the record-setting Waverton residence sale in 2010.
