Organics off the menu as Berridale Farm sells to non-farmer

Jonathan ChancellorApril 27, 2013

The recent $1.6 million sale by noted herb and vegetable growers Richard and Nina Kalina of the organic Berridale Farm at Blackheath was to a non-farmer buyer.

The new owner's intentions were confirmed to Property Observer by its selling Annie Downer from Downer and Maher Real Estate Leura.

Berridale Farm was cleared over 100 years ago and began its life as a berry farm.

It then became an orchard with apples and pears and later an Alpaca property when the house was updated and became an architect designed getaway as a  armhouse with a two storey cedar redwood four bedrooms house.

With north eastern Megalong Valley views, Richard Kalina, a British photographer-turned-farmer and his wife, Nina came across the Blue Mountains property near the village of Blackheath in 2004 after spotting it on the internet from London.

And then after a chance meeting in 2006 with chef Peter Gilmore from the three-hatted Quay restaurant, the 20-hectare property turned into a cool-climate organic oasis growing 35 varieties of heritage fruit and vegetables that have served up on the menus of Sydney's finest eateries.

Everything from radishes, aubergines, onions, tomatoes, artichokes, pea seedlings, fennel, turnips, broccoli, carrots, plums, pears, currants and berries.

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It was initially listed for auction last November as the family - including daughters Luna and Natasha  - are moving to England, where Richard has a new job at the amazing Eden Project, a large organic produce facility in Cornwall.

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Set on the Shipley Plateau between the Megalong and Kanimbla valleys, Richard and Nina actually came with no plans to farm the land.

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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