'Clifton', the Tasmanian beauty that had Her Majesty the Queen visiting
A ten-bedroom, nine-bathroom property, 2 Louisa Street, Ranelagh, named 'Clifton', is asking for $1,750,000, and comes with a royal stamp of approval, having been visited by the Queen in the 1970s during a Royal Tour.
The visit was covered at the time in the Australian Women's Weekly, with an example of the article displayed in the library of the home.
The Queen's brief visit to Ranelagh was part of Tasmania's presentation of the apple harvesting process, as seen in the video below.
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From 6.44 onwards
While the entire property is circa 1850, the main house was built from 1865 and is a landmark of the Huon Valley having once been part of a significant family enterprise before selling outside of the family for the first time in 2000.
The property includes a 25-room house, two cottage rooms, a four-car carport, a three-storey hop drying kilm called Oast House, which includes guest accommodation, two apple pickers' huts and a number of sheds. One of the cottages, Tilly's Cottage, was remodelled in 2007 out of a 1960s paintshed for bed and breakfast guests, with these properties all being constructed at different times.
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Including five acres of garden, parkland and paddock, the main house and its adjoining Oast House, are listed by the National Trust. Oast House is the only kiln of its kind south of Hobart and has the original press and drying kiln.
At present it is used as a large family home, however it has been used as a bed and breakfast in the past for around a decade. It picked up a number of tourism awards and accolades.
"The Queen once stopped here for tea and a pee" notes the Lonely Planet guide to Tasmania, referring to the Bed and Breakfast, then called Matilda's, as one of Tasmania's finest. For those interested in restoring the property to a B&B, under the former owners it was achieving from $165 per room per night upwards, including breakfast.
It won hotelaccommodation.com.au's People's Choice Award in 2004 and is noted online as being for lovers of golden retrievers.
It was previously owned by former WA winery 'Matilda Meadow' owners. The former hotelier Don Turnbull and former oil-industry executive Pamela Meldrum-Turnbull, who had five golden retrievers, bought Clifton on a visit to Tasmania.
During restoration they reputedly found an 1863 shilling and an 1873 penny. They also named several of the rooms after their dogs: Roxy, Pinot, Daisy, Blossom and Molly.
Their Matilda Meadow winery, acqured in the late 1980s, undewent refurbishment and was rechristened Rockcliffe by new owner in 2001 Steve Hall, a geologist.
The home includes classic original features, such as timber and marble fireplaces, timber panelling, ceiling roses, wide skirting and architraves and leadlighting.
An original meat safe is still in the kitchen wing, which the listing notes could be turned into a cellar, being naturally cool in the sandstone section.
The library, where the Queen's visit is commemorated, has an original fireplace, builty-in bookshelves and cabinets (recent additions), french doors and a corner box window.
Outside the property there is a chicken coop, a 150 year old Magnolia Grande tree, fruit trees inluding apricot, pear, cherry, nectarine, cherry plum, plum, mulberry, quince, lemon, greengage and apple.
RP Data notes that the property has been on the market since March, however the price has not budged.
The Huon Valley has previously been on Property Observer's radar as somewhere that affordability-driven investors might consider.
The owners of Clifton, who have contacted Property Observer, note that they are relocating so cannot keep the property, however expressed their love for the home through the years.