The Red Hill Peony Estate at 237 and 239 Arthurs Seat Rd, Red Hill, is on the market for the first time since the 1880s.
A Mornington Peninsula peony estate is ready to bloom under a new owner after 140 years in the same family.
The Red Hill Peony Estate featuring 3500 colourful peony plants is on the market with a $8.9m-$9.7m asking range.
It’s one of a few Victorian large-scale peony producers with others in the Macedon Ranges and near Kyneton.
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The Red Hill site’s owner Jill Holmes-Smith’s great-great grandparents, Robert and Eliza Sheehan, purchased the property in 1886. It later became a commercial fruit farm.
Ms Holmes-Smith said that she and her sister had each inherited 40 acres (16.39ha) from their grandparents, with her sibling now running a successful truffle farm.
Along with husband Phil, Ms Holmes-Smith was inspired to start planting peonies on their property at 237 and 239 Arthurs Seat Rd, that’s spread across two titles, after visiting a peony farm near Daylesford.
“It’s a labour of love, but we’ve made the whole place beautiful,” she said.
The estate is set across two titles on a 16.39ha land holding.
The house looks like it has been around for centuries but is in fact just 20 years old.
Inside the American-style barn which also has an artist’s studio.
They now produce 35,000 peony stems a year to sell at their farm gate and at markets, along with a special peony-flavoured ice cream.
“I add a syrup that I create from the petals of the peonies and it’s absolutely delicious,” Ms Holmes-Smith said.
She has also established a display garden of peonies, lilies, dahlias and other plants across 30 large beds, which they have previously opened to the public.
The undercover alfresco area is an ideal place to entertain, enjoy a meal or read a book.
The kitchen is fitted with stone surfaces and hardwood cabinetry.
Some of the thousands of peonies growing in fields.
The couple built a Georgian Revival-style, five-bedroom house at the estate with enough space for their now grown-up children, almost two decades ago.
Draped in ivy, the house features a reception hall, formal sitting room with a marble fireplace,
dining room, library, study and main bedroom showcasing a walk-in wardrobe and ensuite.
The stone-fitted kitchen looks out towards the manicured lawns and numerous formal gardens.
Ninety Lipstick maple trees line the sweeping driveway leading to the abode.
A green view from the bath.
A fountain adds old-world charm to the garden.
The renovated bluestone guesthouse’s kitchen.
Ms Holmes-Smith enjoys painting in the large American-like barn with an art studio which her late father built.
A separate renovated bluestone guesthouse on the property has formerly doubled as short-term accommodation.
Ms Holmes-Smith said that as she and her husband were both 70 years old, it was time to sell the estate.
Kay & Burton’s Andrew Hines and Cass Hines have the listing in conjunction with
OBrien’s Matthew Murdoch and Stavros Ambatzidis.
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