Gai and Robbie Waterhouse tipped as Dunsinea, Mittagong cattle farm buyers
Dunsinea, the 40 hectare Mittagong, Southern Highlands NSW trophy property has been sold for about $4.95 million.
And all the locals reckon that champion horse trainer Gai Waterhouse will be their new neighbour, along with her extended family. Apparently the Waterhouses are thinking of selling their Clifton Gardens home and buying a Sydney apartment.
Last year the Melbourne Cup winning trainer and her husband, Robbie Waterhouse bought in Melbourne buying a whole floor Spring Street apartment for $4.3 million.
Dunsinea has views over the bushland of the Nepean State Conservation Forest.
It was secured after being given a $5.25 million asking price following its November 2013 auction through Sam Triggs from Meares and Associates and Michael Maloney from Richardson and Wrench Bowral.
It was sold by Mark and Rosie Mitchell who developed the holding from the ground up after returning from the UK in 2002. They first tried to sell in late 2008 with $7 million plus hopes.
Set on the northern fringes of the Southern Highlands, Dunsinea comes with modern ‘rammed earth’ five bedroom sandstone home.
Dunsinea is surrounded by 100 acres of rolling grazing land, some 15 kilometres from Bowral.
The house is surrounded by its green and white garden, complete with 10 metre heated pool and all weather tennis court. There is also a guest cottage.
The main residence boasts 300mm - 450mm thick walls and 10 foot high ceilings.
Title Tattle recalls property reporter Margie Blok, after inspecting the home in 2008, noted it had been meticulously built with classic architecture.
"The house has superb proportions, solid sandstone walls, stone verandas and custom-made Georgian-style windows with double glazing. Inside, the rooms have 3.6-metre-high ceilings and polished stone floors, which are heated for winter warmth," she wrote.
"The front door opens to a wide central hallway with two guest bedrooms, a bathroom, a guest toilet and a study on the left. Opposite are the formal sitting and dining rooms.
"At the end of the hall is a central pavilion with a television room and a large family living-dining area with an open-plan kitchen. Off this is another kitchen (for caterers or food preparation) with a coolroom and cellar," Margie Blok told her readers.
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Its formal dining room was subsequently included in the ‘Best 50 Rooms’ by House and Garden magazine.
The pasture was marketed as ideal for cattle grazing with the property fattening 40 to 50 steers year round. Title Tattle gathers that would translate accomodating around 20 horses, as is.
It had been for sale on and off for several years, even attracting the fleeting attention of the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and his wife, Therese.
Businessman Peter Holmes à Court has listed his nearby Mittagong farm with $6.8 million plus hopes.
The 145-hectare property (pictured below), Chain of Ponds comes with six-bedroom homestead. It is listed through McGrath Bowral agent Anne Stone and Howard McMillan from McMillan Real Estate Bowral.
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The homestead was redesigned by Luigi Rosselli Architects to sit within gardens designed by William Dangar.
It was developed as a low-maintenance, sustainable cattle property with horse paddocks surround the main dwelling.
The Holmes à Courts oversaw the planting of 5,000 native trees linking the property with surrounding national parks. The property is well irrigated with 12 dams and the Chain of Ponds creek.
Title Tattle is aware of several trophy home sales over summer, the most recent being The Chase, on Oldbury Road at Sutton Forest. The unconfirmed price was around $5.8 million through Bill Carpenter from W. McI Carpenter & Associates at Bowral, apparently to offshore interests. It had been put to December 2013 auction through Bill Carpenter inconjunction with Campbell-Jones Property agent Angus Campbell-Jones. Last traded at $5.2 million in 2011, the 40 hectare property was offloaded by John Starr, a real estate franchise tsar of Sydney’s western suburbs.
Likewise Luggybank, on Range Road at Mittagong sold during January through Bill Carpenter and Drew Lindsay RE apparently for just under $4 million. It had been for sale for more than four years – initially with ambitious $7 milion price hopes.
Patchway on Ranelagh Road, Burradoo also sold in January to locals for about $4.2 million. It was the home of Lyn Wilson and her engineer husband Ken who Title Tattle recalls supplied steel fabrication for the Olympic Stadium at Homebush.