Bill Pulver buys Braidwood's Mona with wedding centre plans

Mona Farm, the historic Braidwood property in the NSW Southern Tablelands, has been sold with the buyer, Bill Pulver having plans to operate it as a wedding and function centre.

The recently appointed Australian Rugby Union chief executive paid around $5 million, The Australian suggested.

After a large scale restoration took the enhanced property to new glory, the estate was marketed by Knight Frank as one of Australia's most iconic rural properties.

It was offered by the entrepreneurial Rose Deo who has lined up events such as Sculptures by the Lake throughout her tenure. 

Deo has overseen the full restoration of the gardens which were inspired by English landscaper Lancelot Capability Brown.

They won the Belle Magazine garden design of the year back in 2003 after the planting by then owners Greg and Kerry Schneider of more than 4000 trees and the construction of a five arch-stone Palladian-style bridge, which spans Mona's scenic lake.

The gardens date back to the 1820s when it was settled by British Navy medical officer Dr Thomas Braidwood Wilson.

The western section of the property was resumed to form the town of Braidwood.

The property was then bought by the Maddrells in 1845 who gave it the name Mona, Gaelic for the Isle of Man.

It comes with an 1890s homestead and a 1903 coach house used by Cobb & Co.

The coach house is now separate luxury guest accomodation comprising three bedrooms and three bathrooms.

Its stables, which date from the 1860s, were converted into a marble-tiled, 7,000 litre plunge pool for guests.

A newly renovated self-contained cottage looks over the English style gardens and the lake and a fully renovated wool shed serves as a function centre. 

There's an Olympic sized dressage arena with a watered European surface and a 20 metre sand round yard adjacent to the large stable block with six stables.