Terrara House Estate

Saturday morning we picked Lian and Matt up from Mascot airport and headed south for my brother Derek's property Terrara House Estate. This beautiful old Edwardian house is set on 17 acres of rich dairy farmland east of Nowra. http://maps.google.com.au/maps?hl=en&tab=wl

This is to be the venue for Lian and Matt's forthcoming wedding, at the end of January. Derek has developed the property extensively in the last few years and now the old lady well and truly earns her keep as a weekend wedding venue in the warmer months. http://www.google.com.au/search?aq=f&gcx=c&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=the+verandahs+terrara+house+estate

You might like to share some of the photos I took. The place is just so photogenic, it's hard to take a bad one. Here is a visual tour around the property, focussing on the weddingy bits.

The drawing room showing the Kauri floor and cedar woodwork. Derek bought the house empty and has sourced a lot of big items of furniture online, having many of them renovated. The place is gradually filling up with authentic period pieces. It is a real labour of love.

Many brides opt for an outdoor setting for the ceremony itself.

This is a "Lover's Knot" garden, outside the "Bridal Salon" which is actually a renovated shed building - but luxurious and glamourous now, bearing absolutely no resemblance any more to anything like a shed.

 White marble floors, hairdressing and treatment rooms, bathrooms, lots of mirrors - the Bridal Salon is a dream space to arraign oneself in one's bridal finery.

Covered promenades link the wedding marquee with various outdoor spaces

 Jacaranda pathway leads to guest amenities and the tennis courts

Inside the marquee all is ready for a wedding later in the afternoon.  Each event is a coordinated massive production and everything runs like clockwork. A team of committed and professional staff take care of everything without the event impinging on the private areas of the estate.

David and Derek stand in the entrance to the marquee, with the front door of Terrara House in the background of this shot.  The wedding party may roam the front and side gardens, the verandahs and use the drawing room as well as the marquee. Amazingly, from within the private rooms of the estate, it is scarcely noticeable that a function is going on, so thick are the walls of the house and so well-defined all the garden spaces are. There is a commercial kitchen on site where all the food is prepared, including some from the estate's extensive fruit and vegetable gardens.  The whole thing is just amazing - a tribute to their vision and energy, design skills and sheer hard work. We feel very privileged to be able to have a family wedding there.  It will be the first family wedding held there that Derek will attend as a guest..

 Derek explains the stonemasons' markings on the sandstone. The blocks were quarried by hand nearby, and the same family who built Terrara also first built Bundanon, which now belongs to the nation.

Outdoor chess set, the bar area, outdoor seating under the trees and cheminees for when it is cooler. The place keeps on getting upgrades every season.

 The rose garden, adjacent to the outdoor bar area, and featuring a red belly black snake in transit on the weekend we visited. This property is part of a rural area and right next to a little creek. Snakes are a part of life, no-one gets too excited. Except for the dogs, which must be kept apart from them, for everyone's peace of mind.

 Nothing is done by halves at Terrara.  Derek designed and had these vegie and fruit gardens installed.  In a classic parterre pattern, with a fountain at the centre.  As you do. He tells me the topsoil goes down forever.  We had a beautiful meal cooked for us and later we fell into those huge beds in those beautiful old rooms upstairs.  It's all like a dream. In the morning I got up early for a swim. Terrara's pool is very scenic, it has flowering gardens on two sides, the third faces a flagstone wisteria-covered walkway and the fourth side looks to the horizon through trees and manicured parkland, with dairy paddocks in the distance.

On the Sunday, we headed back to Sydney via the coast road, going over the Seacliff Bridge, just visible here through the sea mist from Bald Hill above Stanwell Park.