A rare buying opportunity has arisen in the Crookwell district, where a lifestyle property with meaningful production capability has hit the market in a prime 'top of the range' location.
Paul McIntosh of Ray White Goulburn has listed for auction the 94 hectare (232ac) property Somersby, which sits just east of the crest of the Great Divide, about five minutes' drive from Crookwell.
The property was bought 19 years ago by retiring businessman Peter Sutherland and his wife Jan, and following Peter's death in 2017 it is now being sold to allow Mrs Sutherland to move into town.
It was previously owned for 20 years by Sydney medico Douglas Ash, and originally it was held for many years by generations of the local Howard potato-growing and grazing family.
Now just 2.5 hours drive from Sydney, Somersby is situated in a historic locality known as Cottawalla, where the main Crookwell-Goulburn road crosses the Great Divide.
The property's top-of-the-range location and predominantly north-easterly aspect give it a favoured exposure to moist weather patterns and a reliable 750mm average rainfall.
Described as mostly open and level to undulating, the property comprises a mix of basalt, granite and loamy soil types supporting a pasture base of native grasses and introduced clovers.
In the past it has been an alpaca stud and it has carried cattle for breeding and fattening, with an estimated carrying capacity today of around 70 breeders.
About one-third of the total area is considered arable and the property is ripe for a pasture makeover and further development as either a stud or commercial livestock operation.
Paddocks are serviced by a fenced laneway system, and well watered by 10 dams augmented by a reticulation system fed by a bore piping to tanks and troughs.
An attractive brick home built in 2002 has four bedrooms, large formal living and dining areas and open-plan kitchen and family room, opening to a covered outdoor entertaining area.
Set in established, tree-fringed gardens, with double garage, the house has reverse-cycle air conditioning and slow combustion wood heating and incorporates a large office suitable for a home business.
Working infrastructure includes a large, lock-up machinery shed and workshop plus three American-style barns, a hay shed and steel and timber cattle yards with covered crush area and loading ramp.
Somersby will be offered at auction in Goulburn on May 17, when bidding is expected on the high side of $1.5 million.
By PETER AUSTIN.