One of the very common activities that takes us away from home on the weekend is visiting friends and family. One weekend in September we went and visited some friends who live on a property near Young, NSW about 2 hours away. Their property backs on to Iandra Castle, which was having an open day that weekend.
Downstairs there is are morning rooms, dining rooms, a smoking room, studies, withdrawing room, fernery, conservatory and games rooms. It's all very Austen-like with the men going to the smoking room and games room and the women sitting in the "withdrawing room". (Notice how out of place David looks?)
The house was at one time left to the Methodist church and was a home for boys. Unfortunately it therefore does not have many of the original furnishings. More recently it was in private ownership and there has been some attempt at restoration. The hallway with it's panelling (v. Federation) looks pretty good.
The day we were there it was v. v. stormy with rain on and off all morning. The friends we were staying with we very happy about the rainas they are wheat/sheep farmers. Alex also thought the rain was fun (or maybe that was running with mummy in the rain that was fun.)
The "castle" was build by George Greene, in the early 20th Century. Mr Greene had emigrated from Scotland, and pioneered share farming in the district. He built this house for his family, modelled on the English fuedal system. There are some thirteen bedrooms (all of them upstairs), including the"orange room" and the"blue room".
The room upstairs to the left is "Mrs Greene's sewing room". I suspect that it is easier to stay serene and quiet when one has a entire room purely for sewing.
Downstairs there is are morning rooms, dining rooms, a smoking room, studies, withdrawing room, fernery, conservatory and games rooms. It's all very Austen-like with the men going to the smoking room and games room and the women sitting in the "withdrawing room". (Notice how out of place David looks?)The house was at one time left to the Methodist church and was a home for boys. Unfortunately it therefore does not have many of the original furnishings. More recently it was in private ownership and there has been some attempt at restoration. The hallway with it's panelling (v. Federation) looks pretty good.There are other buildings on site, including a Managers residence, and chapel. John was particularly impressed with the stable and electricity generation building.
The day we were there it was v. v. stormy with rain on and off all morning. The friends we were staying with we very happy about the rainas they are wheat/sheep farmers. Alex also thought the rain was fun (or maybe that was running with mummy in the rain that was fun.)We had often driven past this "castle" on our trips between Canberra/Goulburn and my-in-laws but we had never actually been inside. It was good to finally see when we had read about before. (The house features in a book called "Grand houses of Australia").
PS It was also fun to catch up with our friends ;-)
1 comment:
The castle looks like a great place. We'll have to visit sometime.
Post a Comment