Deep in the heart of southern New South Wales lies a throwback to the days of English aristocracy transplanted into the bowels of this great southern land. Iandra Castle or, more correctly, Mt Oriel Homestead is an English style manor house built in 1908 by the Greene family after which the nearby hamlet of Greenthorpe is named and is about 20km north of the major local service centre of Young.
I had never heard of it despite spending much of my youth racing pushbikes in the area and it only entered my consciousness when some friends in Young mentioned it a few years back. It is empty now but still sits on a large estate and is in desperate need of repair and renovation-thus several open days a year raise money for the homestead in the quest to refurbish it and restore it to it’s greatest glory.
It has quite a fascinating history which is beyond the scope of this blog to impart but is readily accessible via a quick web search.
Linda and I had been wanting to visit the “Castle” for some time and had actually decided to go a couple of weeks back but the prodigious amount of rain we have been having put the area under water, well almost, and I figured a drive over from Canberra may just turn into a nightmare of road closures and hassles and thus we left it to last weekend when a second successive open day was held.
We stayed with our friends in Young on Saturday night and they drove us out through the luscious green fields of the Southern Slopes to the Homestead, not much more than a twenty minute drive, on Sunday morning. The whole area is a picture at the moment given the copious amounts of precipitation which have fallen on it recently and it is worth the drive for that alone. Iandra Castle itself is a whisker off the beaten track but would be no problem for anyone to find in these days of Global Positioning Systems and Smart Phones.
It was a magnificent day weatherwise to boot, the rain gods having taken a well earned rest and it seems that many a traveler eager to break the shackles of of wet weather imposed exile took advantage of the sunshine to come and visit this little gem of country New South Wales. Many and varied types of people were in attendance and a strong international flavour was evident. Ladies in Islamic wear, Asian tourists with the latest in photographic equipment, Indian families lunching on the lawns and of course regular Aussies such as ourselves keen to have a look around.
The ladies on the front door selling booklets about the history of the place told us that in spite of the wet weather the weekend before there had been over 900 people through and I thought as I looked around there would probably be as many as that there now given the numbers of cars in the carpark and people traversing the grounds.
The place itself has had a little renovation over the years and there has been some lovely work done but many of the rooms need restoration and it is estimated at least 10 million dollars would be required to restore the castle to it’s former glory.
So, keep an eye out for open days at Iandra Castle. It’s worth the drive and it’s only ten dollars to get in, not much really in this day and age and when you consider the fee goes towards upgrading the place then it really isn’t too much to complain about.
Be advised there is no cafe facility onsite although a local outfit sells very good coffee from a cart out the front.
All in all a nice day in a little known yet historic part of Australia.
Strange Notations From a Laborious Life 