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Anlaby Station, a historic SA farming property just north of Kapunda.
The owners of Australia’s oldest merino stud are shutting down a much-loved garden festival to focus on the sale of their 187-year-old farming property.
Anlaby Station owners Andrew Morphett and Peter Hayward say this weekend’s Spring Festival – which has drawn thousands of visitors to their historic home over the past 14 years – will be their last.
The couple, who put their farm on the market almost a year ago, said hosting the two-day event along with maintaining the 745ha property, near Kapunda on the edge of South
Australia’s Barossa Valley, and continuing their other business interests had become too much.
“It’s such a big event – it is just a huge undertaking and to give it the attention we would like means we’re not able to give the attention to everything else we would like to do to sell the property,’’ Mr Morphett said.
It includes 745ha with a collection of Victoria and Edwardian-era buildings.
The historic homestead is impressive inside.
“Most people think (the end of the festival means Anlaby) has sold – no it’s not sold.
“When we went to market a year ago we said we would do business as usual, which we have demonstrably for the last 12 months.
“We haven’t stopped running at 100 miles an hour. Now we’ve decided, let’s just call it (and stop the festival).’’
Established in 1839 by Frederick Dutton, Anlaby Station has long stood as a cornerstone of South Australia’s pastoral heritage and is the oldest working sheep station in the country.
The grand estate comprises a collection of significant Victorian and Edwardian-era buildings, including a 35-room mansion that has been restored by Mr Morphett and Mr Hayward during their more than 20-year tenure.
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Almost 4.5ha of gardens – a key attraction of the Spring Festival – were once maintained by a team of 14 gardeners and the property boasts the largest private collection of National Trust-registered trees in Australia.
There is also a gift shop that sells Merino products made from wool of the original flock pedigree and the grounds are a popular wedding venue.
Mr Morphett said weddings would continue to be hosted at Anlaby and private tours of the homestead and gardens would also be available until the property was sold.
The property has been lovingly restored over the past 20 years.
It is a landmark property.
He said the couple always knew the sale would take some time.
“When we bought Anlaby, that was a 12-month process that we were talking with the (former) owner and the agent, so we always said this (current sale) was not going to be a three-month process,’’ he said.
Selling agent Jesse Manuel, of Colliers Agribusiness, said there had been “considerable interest’’ in the property from “high-net worth’’ buyers within Australia and overseas, investors and “high-end hospitality and tourism operators’’.
He said Anlaby Station was located within a highly regarded and highly sought-after region, offering prime cropping and grazing land.
“Anlaby provides purchasers the opportunity to be the next custodian of what is one of Australia’s most luxurious historic homesteads,’’ Mr Manuel said.
A price guide for the property has not been released.
– by Lauren Ahwan
