A new listing in the Wellington district would ideally suit city-based “tree-changers” seeking a productive small farm offering privacy yet easy access to regional centres.
Alternatively, it would make an excellent family base for a business or professional family from Dubbo or Orange wanting room to move and a rural lifestyle.
On offer is “Totnes”, a 260 hectare (643ac) mixed farming property situated just outside the village of Mumbil, 24 kilometres south of Wellington and nine kilometres from Burrendong Dam.
Its location makes it roughly equidistant from Dubbo and Orange, both of which are within about 70km, and a 4.5 hour drive from Sydney.
“Totnes” derives its name from a market town in Devon in the UK, and among its known owners during the past century were the Lowcock, Daetrich, Blatchford, Kelly and Griffith families.
The property is now owned by John and Janice Brown, who were among the foundation breeders in Australia of Boer goats, and bought “Totnes” in 2003 as a base for their breeding operation.
'Totnes' receives an annual rental income ($19,500 last year) for two telecommunications towers on the property.
At its peak, the property was home to 750 Boer goat does and progeny.
The Browns have now bought a home for retirement at Kiama and “Totnes” has been listed for auction on September 15 with Geoff Plasto of Raine and Horne Rural in Wellington.
It will be the third time Mr Plasto has marketed “Totnes”, and as on previous occasions, he expects the offering to attract strong local and outside interest, with bidding on the high side of $900,000.
A feature of the property is its heritage double-brick home, built in about 1912 as the homestead for a property then sprawling over more than 1600ha and extending from Mumbil to the Bell River.
Described as mostly gently undulating with grey and red loam soils and some low hills, the property has about 160ha of arable country, currently sown to sub-clover and phalaris pastures.
The balance of the area is open, natural grazing country.
Always conservatively stocked, “Totnes” under previous ownership ran about 80 cows and calves, and following the wind-up of the Boer goat venture it is now carrying 350 to 400 Merino ewes on agistment.
The property is subdivided into six paddocks and water for stock is provided by dams, although the homestead receives town water from Mumbil.
Apart from the revenue derived from agricultural enterprises, “Totnes” receives an annual CPI-indexed rental income ($19,500 last year) for two telecommunications towers on the property.
The homestead is a mixture of the old and the new, with the original 1912 section comprising two bedrooms and formal lounge and dining room, all with high, pressed-metal ceilings.
To this was added in 1985 a two-bedroom extension, along with new kitchen and family living area with vaulted timber ceiling.
Set in an English-style garden, the homestead is flanked by an office/storeroom complex incorporating another bedroom and bathroom.
A two-bedroom cottage situated apart from the main homestead offers renovation potential as a possible B&B accommodation.
