Prestige Property: Quamby Estate, Hagley, TAS

Quamby Estate has adopted diverse and distinguished roles in the rural, cultural and political life of Tasmania.

The historic manse – which dates back to 1828 – remains as one of Australia’s most desirable family homes.

The 10-bedroom, 10-bathroom, 5-car parking pile is surrounded by some 64-hectares of prime farming land, ideal for those who prize privacy, and are searching for a comprehensive escape from city life.

The picturesque homestead – built in an Anglo-colonial style – is a heady mix of art and architectural wonder with an elegant flagstone paved verandah wrapping around the residence to the north and east – bringing beautiful light to the home.

With a distant view of Ben Lomond plateau the house enjoys double-hipped roods and attics and is structured around a transverse hall. Aside from the ballroom, which was added later, the principal rooms open directly onto the verandah through eight-pane French doors in pairs with transom lights.

Upon entry one is led into the hall which sees two evocative reception rooms – each embodying the home’s classic character with French doors and fireplaces and a library wedged between.

Elsewhere, the dining room’s soaring ceiling, floorboards and generous proportions are ideal for entertaining with an adjoining bar and fireplace adding a layer of intimacy to the residence.

The kitchen – which is built to a commercial quality – ensures Quamby has indeed, moved with the times.

The expansive residence is privy to 10 bedrooms, each accompanied by a sophisticated ensuite.

However, the estate is not limited to the historic homestead, with Quamby including its own manicured nine-hole golf course (yes it has its own golf course), complete with its own clubhouse delivered in a converted stables building.

Further Quamby’s light-filled function room, Georgian era coach house and extensive farm outbuildings play to the estate’s adaptability, with many hosting weddings on the grounds.

Built for Sir Richard Dry, who became the first Australian born state premier, the home sits just 10 minutes from the township of Hagley, and only 30 minutes from Launceston.

The listing is with Knight Frank Tasmania’s Sam Woolcock (+61 400 813 033). Price guide, $8-$10 million; knighfranktasmania.com.au

A historic Barbados estate with a 300-year-old villa and 11 acres overlooking the Caribbean Sea is now for sale with a guide price of $22.5 million.

The seller is Kit Braden, chairman of the U.K. branch of French beauty empire L’Occitane Group, whose family has spent every winter for the last 13 years at the island property, known as Fustic Estate.

“It’s very much a family house,” Braden said. “We love having a lot of people there. It’s a collection point to keep everyone together.”

The main villa dates to 1712, though it’s been reimagined and expanded substantially over the years.

It spans 13,000 square feet and features seven en suite bedrooms across three wings, as well as expansive verandas, stone courtyards and rows of louvered doors in gay Caribbean pastels.

In the 1970s, when the home was owned by Charles Graves—brother of British poet Robert Graves—it was reimagined by stage designer Oliver Messel, one of the foremost theater designers of the last century. Messel expanded the home, added a lagoon pool with a natural waterfall and other theatrical features, according to Braden.

“The whole place is a little bit magical,” he said.

The home sits about 350 feet above the water, and surrounded by lush gardens that slope towards the water.

“We look down through our garden—which is about 12 acres of tropical gardens and palm trees and wonderful old mahogany trees—onto the Caribbean,” Braden said.

He and his wife first saw the property on New Year’s Eve 2013, during a quick trip from where they were staying in Grenada.

The couple spent an hour walking the perimeter, some of it still untouched jungle, in the pouring rain.

“By the time we got back, I had fallen in love with it,” Braden said.

His wife, however, wasn’t so sure. But in Braden’s telling, a second visit in sunnier weather with two of their children brought her around.

“She had to be talked into that it was a jolly good idea; now she absolutely loves it,” he said.

When they bought the property, the edge that runs along the waterfront was a jungle, so they cleared the ridge and transformed it into gardens.

They also bought an additional sea-level parcel with two beach cottages, giving the property direct access to the water and the town below via a five-minute walk.

The property also has a 15-person staff, a reflecting pond, an outdoor pavilion suitable for yoga and a commercial grade kitchen that can serve more than 100 guests, according to a brochure from Knight Frank, which posted the listing in March. They did not provide further comment.

For Braden, the property is special because of its natural beauty, its proximity to the town of Saint Lucy and its history—which dates way way back to when the island of Barbados was first formed via tectonic activity.

“It was basically tectonic plates that collided about a million years ago so the seabed is the top of the hill,” Braden said. “We’re on coral rock.”

As a result, Fustic Estate includes an extensive network of caves that were likely used by the Arawaks, a Venezuelan fishing tribe that followed the fish to these islands about a thousand years ago.

“If the fish were good they’d camp here,” Braden said. “There’s evidence that they stayed there in those caves, they lived there in good winters.”

Now it’s someone else’s turn to live on the land shared by Arawaks, the plantation owners of 1712, Charles Graves and the Braden brood.

Prestige Property: Quamby Estate, Hagley, TAS

One of Australia’s most historic homes hits the market.

Kit Braden, an executive at French beauty empire L’Occitane, has spent every winter for the past 13 years at the stone vacation home.