Polo offering in Richmond Lowlands sold by Peter Higgins

Polo offering in Richmond Lowlands sold by Peter Higgins
Jonathan ChancellorDecember 7, 2020

Peter Higgins, the entrepreneurial mortgage broker and his wife Rebecca, have sold a small part of their Richmond Lowlands polo estate.

The sale was finalised just before the World Polo Championships, which kicked off on the weekend  at spectacular riverfront location.

There's speculation the UK Royals could turn up as Higgins, has remained in touch since he played polo with the princes in the UK.

Teams from Argentina, United Kingdom, New Zealand, India, Chile and Spain, and Australia will be competing.

The recently sold home, dubbed Hawkesbury House, has been bought by champion polo player Hugh Parry-Okeden and his wife, Gendy, who are returning to the riverfront lane after about a decade's absence. 

They paid $4.3 million for the 12.3 hectare estate.

Given the timber master craftsman Parry-Okeden established the hardwood building company, Giddiup and his wife, Gendy was co-founder of Hickory Hill Home, the sleepwear and lifestyle brand,gthey no doubt they will makeover the five bedroom homestead.

It looks over the park-like surroundings and grazing paddocks which come with an Argentinian inspired stable block of eight. 

Higgins, who started playing polo in the early 1990s, starred 12 years ago on the entrepreneurial television investment show Dragons Den.

Higgins, a co-founder of Mortgage Choice, began to buy in the Windsor district in 2002, consolidating arounds 50 hectares of alluvial land overlooking the Hawkesbury River during the following six years.

In 2010 he was seeking $20 million for much of the estate when it was offered by veteran agent Bill Bridges in conjunction with Ryan Watsford.

He subsequently endeavoured to hold weddings on the expansive holding but in 2015 Hawkesbury City Council were taken to court by the nearby Marshall Rural Pty Ltd, aka as Kurri Burri Polo Club. 

The country estate with polo fields at the base of the Blue Mountains were featured in the opening scenes of Australian made blockbuster, The Great Gatsby.

No doubt holding of the world championship on the estate would enhance its cache among Chinese trophy estate acquirers. 

Cutcliffe Properties agent Paul Cutliffe sold Hawkesbury House which spent nearly 300 days on the market.

The Parry-Okedens had recently sold their heritage-listed home Ukamurra at Cattai on the Hawkesbury River.

The sandstone home, which was bought for $1.5 million run down in 2008, fetched $7.3 million last year when sold to a company headed up by a syndicate of Chinese buyers.

This article first appeared in The Daily Telegraph.

Jonathan Chancellor

Jonathan Chancellor is one of Australia's most respected property journalists, having been at the top of the game since the early 1980s. Jonathan co-founded the property industry website Property Observer and has written for national and international publications.

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