Macclesfield Lot 6 Macclesfield Road
Historic ”Invercauld” originally purchased by one of our state’s founding fathers John Rankine during the 1840’s !
Invercauld’s Scottish namesake is a castle between Braemar and Crathie on Royal Deeside. The Macclesfield property is strongly associated with SA’s pioneer Scottish settlers, the land on which it stands having been purchased by John Rankine, one of our State’s founding fathers.
This beautiful property, set on 34.7 hectares of classic Fleurieu countryside and just 35 minutes from Adelaide, is the perfect setting for a family, hobby or working farm, B&B tourism initiative or a retirement idyll.
Previously home to sheep and stud beef cattle, the property lends itself to small rural production, perhaps even a hobby vineyard. It features excellent infrastructure including irrigation, sturdy electrified fencing, steel cattle yard, workshop and storage. Importantly, the property has ample water supplies including a water authorisation of 56,800 kilolitres from the Angas River, which meanders through the property.
This idyllic property offers not one but two houses – the original cottage extended to be a substantial home offering eight main rooms – with a separate two-bedroom, free-standing cottage located several hundred ametres from the main house. Featuring sweeping vistas it’s perfect for accommodating a property manager, nanny, parents, or friends. With local approvals, it could provide cosy tourist accommodation in the heart of the increasingly popular Fleurieu Peninsula, near the magnets of the Southern Vales wine region, the Coorong and the ferry to Kangaroo Island.
The main house is a charming extension of the original stone cottage, substantial accommodation lovingly updated as a home many times over the years, always in sympathy with the original design. Although now in need of further modernisation and repair , it already features a modern kitchen with Rhoden benchtop electric stove and a recently rebuilt wood stove. Adjoining is the sunny breakfast room linking to the formal dining room with huge open fireplace, tall sash windows and French doors offering breathtaking vistas over the sweeping valley of the River Angas.
There are three large bedrooms, one with en-suite, second bathroom, sitting and living rooms, a large study and separate store and pantry.. Stone walling lead the eye to ever more lovely vistas including, from the property’s highest point, a magnificent view all the way to the majestic Coorong.
Original colonial construction also includes Red Gum timber flooring, massive adzed Blackwood uprights exposed in walls and stone fireplace surrounds. Evidence can still be clearly seen of original wattle-and-daub – wattle sticks still evident in the plaster – “battering” of chimney faces, stone, pug and mortar and the thickness of the walls. Invercauld’s main house is believed to be the only remaining wattle-and-daub residence in existence to have been continually inhabited throughout its history.
The separate, two-bedroom stone cottage features a shingled roof, pressed metal and gambrel ceilings and fibreboard wall panels, an open hearth fireplace, casement windows and French doors. It is set in a well-fenced garden surrounded by glorious trees and magnificent vistas.
Elsewhere on the property are the remains of a market garden surrounded by original Walnut, Apple, Wild Garlic Pear and Quince trees, all grown in the rich soils of the Angas River floodplain. Know where to look and you can also find remnants of the first Australians – “scar trees” and “shelter paintings” – that evidence the significance of the area to Indigenous as well as migrant culture.
Unsurprisingly, the property is listed by both the National Trust and on the Register of the National estate of historic places. While these listings confer valuable status, especially from a tourism attraction perspective, neither creates any inhibition to further development.
This is a historic South Australian icon – a massive Gum tree-studded property it provides the perfect lifestyle idyll, with almost limitless possibilities, that will return all the care that can be lavished upon it. Invercauld will continue to suit owners who appreciate its historic and classic characteristics and the semi-rural lifestyle of the surrounding countryside and its classic hamlets, while still remaining 35 minutes from the city as part of a healthy outdoors lifestyle that can so easily take in the natural wonder of the Coorong, Victor Harbor and Fleurieu Peninsula’s vineyards and coastal attractions.
Price: $850,000
Bernard H. Booth Pty. Ltd. - RLA184130
