Saumarez Homestead
Saumarez Homestead
4.5
About
The heritage jewel of New England. A historic Edwardian mansion surrounded by formal gardens and a collection of farm buildings dating back to the 1830s. The intact furnished two-storey mansion is a time capsule of family living, largely untouched since the Edwardian era. Saumarez Homestead features a wonderful collection that illustrates the story of pastoral life from the 1870s to the 1970s. Indulge your senses in the nine picturesque gardens surrounding the Homestead, designed for New England’s distinct four seasons. Mary White’s Garden comes alive in early spring, with swathes of colourful bulbs, cottage flowers and spreading wisteria. The renowned Heritage Rose Garden flowers on mass in late spring/early summer, with sweet scents. Or see the stunning contrasts of tall blue skies and rich autumn colour in heritage trees and spreads of windflowers.
Duration: 2-3 hours
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4.5
132 reviews
Excellent
79
Very good
35
Average
7
Poor
8
Terrible
3
Jen S
19 contributions
Jan 2020 • Couples
Saumarez House is beautifully preserved and the stories of family life are fascinating. The video and tour were informative and fascinating. It helped us understand the history of this area. We enjoyed the garden, although it was during the drought and we saw a snake. Will wear enclosed shoes next time. Then we indulged in Devonshire tea, featuring superb home made scones. All the volunteers were friendly and had a wealth of information which they readily shared. Next, we went down to the farm and photographed the rustic buildings and machinery. We will be back, bringing friends and family to enjoy this wonderful experience.
Written 16 February 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
I am so pleased that you enjoyed your visit to Saumarez Homestead even if the drought had affected the gardens. Saumarez is green again. We have had over 200mm of rain since you visited a the gardens and grounds have responded brilliantly. I hope you can visit again soon. You will be amazed at the difference.
Written 20 February 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Tim W
Elimbah, Australia449 contributions
Jan 2020 • Family
Being a weekday we were unable to tour the house but were happy enough to roam the gardens and nearby old farm.
The gardens were very nice and the series of old farm buildings were very interesting. Well worth a visit, my teenage children really enjoyed it too. Well worth a visit!
The gardens were very nice and the series of old farm buildings were very interesting. Well worth a visit, my teenage children really enjoyed it too. Well worth a visit!
Written 16 January 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Now that we have had some welcome rain, the gardens and grounds are recovering quickly from the worst drought we have experienced since taking over the property from the White Family in 1984.
Written 17 January 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
KathrynS400SA
Wallaroo456 contributions
July 2024 • Couples
We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the homestead. Run by National Trust volunteers, our guide brought the story of the White family to life. The home is largely in original condition. Grand without being ostentatious. Check out the times of the guided visits on their website.
Written 14 July 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Kate D
Brisbane, Australia30 contributions
July 2014 • Couples
Luckily I checked the web site before visiting. The house is closed mid June until the end of August. it is only open weekends and some Public Holidays the rest of the year.
Written 2 July 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
With no functioning heating in the main homestead it is far too cold and uncomfortable to run guided tours during the winter. When we reopen in September on weekends and most public holidays the volunteers will offer excellent guided tours.
Written 7 July 2014
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
carolmL3843MT
Tweed Heads, Australia2 contributions
Apr 2016 • Couples
Visited Saumarez Homestead to fill in a couple of hours in the afternoon while visiting Armidale and much to our surprise and delight were there for the whole afternoon. Took in the very informative guided tour which I recommend everyone should do as the interior of the home is glorious with all the original belongings of the past owners.
Before exploring the gardens ask for the plant number sheet so you can realise which trees you are looking at also. We had the devonhire tea in the café and it was well priced and very good value. Office/café also has handmade goods and books for purchase. The whole property is definitely worth the small admission price.
The National Trust has provided us with an insight to bygone days for future generations to appreciate.
Before exploring the gardens ask for the plant number sheet so you can realise which trees you are looking at also. We had the devonhire tea in the café and it was well priced and very good value. Office/café also has handmade goods and books for purchase. The whole property is definitely worth the small admission price.
The National Trust has provided us with an insight to bygone days for future generations to appreciate.
Written 6 May 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Anne G
Melbourne, Australia85 contributions
Apr 2019 • Couples
We turned up on a Friday when normally no tours are on offer but a very generous volunteer took us and 3 others on a tour of the house. The National Trust has done a great job in maintaining this house as though the owners had just stepped out. Our guide was very knowledgeable about the house and his enthusiasm was catching. After our tour we visited the gardens. Due to the season the gardens were past their prime but the autumn colours were great. Well worth a visit.
Written 27 April 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
If volunteers are available from Monday to Friday we try to make visitors welcome. Our cafe is open and regular guided tours are available on weekends and public holidays at 10.30 am 2pm and 3.30 pm. So visitors are encouraged to visit Saumarez Homestead then if they would like to do the guided tour of the house or enjoy the cafe on weekends and public holidays.
Written 27 September 2019
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
PeterLangston
Tamworth, Australia1,112 contributions
Jan 2017 • Couples
Despite living for more than ten years in the 1970’s and 80’s just a few kilometres from it, I had never been to Saumarez Station, literally just outside of Armidale on the New England Tablelands of NSW.
I knew of it, of course and I had been told tales of the homestead in particular, because for a brief time, which never extended beyond her training, Sue had hoped to be a volunteer there. She was wide-eyed in her descriptions of what could never be described as a house.
So despite being aware and spending years and countless trips north and south passing the sign on the New England Highway, I had never turned in. Perhaps because Armidale has been a place I have returned to regularly for business and personal reasons, familiarity bred an ill-conceived contempt.
Nothing prepares you for your first glimpse of the homestead as you pass The Avenue - the original entrance to the house. The current road skirts the Avenue, but it is worth the experience to stop near the start of the avenue and wander down toward the entrance gate. Planted in 1898, there is a row of exotic trees along the inner row on either side of the old road and an outer row of endemic pines planted to protect them. It has created the effect of a funnel drawing you into the homestead but it is not until you arrive at the gate that the full grandeur of the building opens a vista on a different time and place.
Saumarez Station dates back more than 180 years when Henry Dumaresq, ex 9th Regiment and gallantly wounded at Waterloo and then a commissioner with the Australian Agricultural Company, decided to squat on a run “outside the boundaries” dictated by the then Governor of NSW, in order to find suitable pasture for his stock. He named it after the famous Saumarez family of his home, Jersey in the Channel Islands. Dumaresq and his brother William had their main properties in the Hunter Valley and had been the centre of controversy about the acquisition of land. Great debate raged in the public arena as to whether they were free settlers or rogues. It was never his home and after his death in 1838, the family continued to use it as a head station. It was sold to Henry Thomas in 1856. Thomas extended the original cottage by adding a brick extension but the everlasting story of Saumarez started in 1874, when Francis White bought the property.
White’s brother Fred bought Booloominbah at about the same time, on the hill to the north and was to build an enduring mansion from the designs of John Horbury Hunt, which would later be the first building of what would become the University of New England and one of the most recognisable examples of wealth and privilege of the time of the squatters. It is hard to imagine that a rivalry between the two families didn't exist.
Francis was gone soon after arriving on Saumarez and his 23 year old son, FJ White, set about creating his own dynasty on the place. He married Maggie Fletcher in 1881 and seven years later, built a single story brick homestead on the hill above the farm buildings, at the same time as Uncle Fred was building "Bool". Maggie set about having children and creating gardens. The core of White’s business was fine wool and with accessible markets overseas which could be easily accessed by the northern railway line, taking his wool directly to markets in Sydney and loading on ships to overseas customers, it was a business that boomed. The White’s were very wealthy and their lifestyle and position in Armidale’s society reflected that.
In 1906, Maggie and several daughters went on a world tour which last a year, so FJ decided it was time to expand the homestead. They didn’t need the extra room but the huge Booloominbah homestead of his uncle’s must have played on his mind and pleasing Maggie was always a favoured pastime. While they were away, he bought in the original architect from Scone, JW Pender to build a second story and turn the original into an Edwardian manor house. When Maggie returned to Saumarez, it was evening and light generated by its own acetylene plant, poured from the windows.
FJ and Maggie were gone by the end of the 1930’s and although the property was left to their five daughters, it was managed by their brother Archie from his property “Bald Blair”, near Guyra. Over time, the property fell to the care of two of their daughters, Mary and Elsie, neither of whom ever married. Mary, the socialite and actively involved in Armidale life, was on the first council of the University of New England and is remembered most often by Mary White College. Elsie was the homebody and attended the gardens, the affairs of the farm and was a keen horse rider.
When Elise died in 1981, aged 97, the homestead was beginning to need closer love and attention, the once glorious gardens were overgrown and the business of farming was rust on the old machinery. The family decided to offer the homestead and ten acres to the National Trust and because of its significance in showing the pastoral history of NSW, the Trust accepted.
Today, whilst the 3 000 acres which remains of FJ’s original 100 000 acres is farmed by family descendants, the small portion under the care of the National Trust is lovingly and energetically managed by Les Davis, ably assisted by his wife Libby. Armed with the Trust’s trust and a team of willing volunteers, Saumarez battles on, but it’s a tough fight. Dwindling financial resources are an increasingly vacant bedfellow with aging infrastructure but you would hardly know it.
This is a great place to visit.
Tours of the homestead happen at 10:30am, 2:00pm and 3:30pm on weekends and public holidays but the venue is open on all other days of the week. It’s not just the homestead to see, because below the main building, there is an extensive array of old farm buildings and equipment to explore and Henry Thomas’ 1860’s brick extension to the original farm cottage.
The gardens are lovely and there is at least an hour of wandering to soak them up. A heritage rose garden is well underway, including many of the roses originally bred at Saumarez Homestead pre 1930’s.
When you visit, stay for a while. The homestead tour is fascinating, with 30 rooms to be shown through, all garnished with the original furnishings, furniture, artworks and photographs Maggie and her daughters filled the house with. You’ll understand the class and gender distinctions of the day clearly when you see how the house was built to cater for FJ and Maggie’s views on life. For instance, when servants came into the area of the main house, they always came upstairs, even if it was only one, so the building reflects that. The women all had bedrooms on the first floor but the men were all on the ground floor. Yes, I checked … the floorboards creak on the stairs. When electricity was introduced into the house, all of the light fittings were fixed into the ceiling close to windows so that with curtains drawn, the women would not cast shadows of their bodies which could be seen from outside.
Saumarez is a mecca for wedding and wedding photographers. A function centre has been built to cater for larger functions. There is also a café, albeit with a limited lunchtime choice but within that there are gluten-free options. They even serve gluten-free scones, which made my picky palette happy.
Take your camera, take a hat and take your time.
I knew of it, of course and I had been told tales of the homestead in particular, because for a brief time, which never extended beyond her training, Sue had hoped to be a volunteer there. She was wide-eyed in her descriptions of what could never be described as a house.
So despite being aware and spending years and countless trips north and south passing the sign on the New England Highway, I had never turned in. Perhaps because Armidale has been a place I have returned to regularly for business and personal reasons, familiarity bred an ill-conceived contempt.
Nothing prepares you for your first glimpse of the homestead as you pass The Avenue - the original entrance to the house. The current road skirts the Avenue, but it is worth the experience to stop near the start of the avenue and wander down toward the entrance gate. Planted in 1898, there is a row of exotic trees along the inner row on either side of the old road and an outer row of endemic pines planted to protect them. It has created the effect of a funnel drawing you into the homestead but it is not until you arrive at the gate that the full grandeur of the building opens a vista on a different time and place.
Saumarez Station dates back more than 180 years when Henry Dumaresq, ex 9th Regiment and gallantly wounded at Waterloo and then a commissioner with the Australian Agricultural Company, decided to squat on a run “outside the boundaries” dictated by the then Governor of NSW, in order to find suitable pasture for his stock. He named it after the famous Saumarez family of his home, Jersey in the Channel Islands. Dumaresq and his brother William had their main properties in the Hunter Valley and had been the centre of controversy about the acquisition of land. Great debate raged in the public arena as to whether they were free settlers or rogues. It was never his home and after his death in 1838, the family continued to use it as a head station. It was sold to Henry Thomas in 1856. Thomas extended the original cottage by adding a brick extension but the everlasting story of Saumarez started in 1874, when Francis White bought the property.
White’s brother Fred bought Booloominbah at about the same time, on the hill to the north and was to build an enduring mansion from the designs of John Horbury Hunt, which would later be the first building of what would become the University of New England and one of the most recognisable examples of wealth and privilege of the time of the squatters. It is hard to imagine that a rivalry between the two families didn't exist.
Francis was gone soon after arriving on Saumarez and his 23 year old son, FJ White, set about creating his own dynasty on the place. He married Maggie Fletcher in 1881 and seven years later, built a single story brick homestead on the hill above the farm buildings, at the same time as Uncle Fred was building "Bool". Maggie set about having children and creating gardens. The core of White’s business was fine wool and with accessible markets overseas which could be easily accessed by the northern railway line, taking his wool directly to markets in Sydney and loading on ships to overseas customers, it was a business that boomed. The White’s were very wealthy and their lifestyle and position in Armidale’s society reflected that.
In 1906, Maggie and several daughters went on a world tour which last a year, so FJ decided it was time to expand the homestead. They didn’t need the extra room but the huge Booloominbah homestead of his uncle’s must have played on his mind and pleasing Maggie was always a favoured pastime. While they were away, he bought in the original architect from Scone, JW Pender to build a second story and turn the original into an Edwardian manor house. When Maggie returned to Saumarez, it was evening and light generated by its own acetylene plant, poured from the windows.
FJ and Maggie were gone by the end of the 1930’s and although the property was left to their five daughters, it was managed by their brother Archie from his property “Bald Blair”, near Guyra. Over time, the property fell to the care of two of their daughters, Mary and Elsie, neither of whom ever married. Mary, the socialite and actively involved in Armidale life, was on the first council of the University of New England and is remembered most often by Mary White College. Elsie was the homebody and attended the gardens, the affairs of the farm and was a keen horse rider.
When Elise died in 1981, aged 97, the homestead was beginning to need closer love and attention, the once glorious gardens were overgrown and the business of farming was rust on the old machinery. The family decided to offer the homestead and ten acres to the National Trust and because of its significance in showing the pastoral history of NSW, the Trust accepted.
Today, whilst the 3 000 acres which remains of FJ’s original 100 000 acres is farmed by family descendants, the small portion under the care of the National Trust is lovingly and energetically managed by Les Davis, ably assisted by his wife Libby. Armed with the Trust’s trust and a team of willing volunteers, Saumarez battles on, but it’s a tough fight. Dwindling financial resources are an increasingly vacant bedfellow with aging infrastructure but you would hardly know it.
This is a great place to visit.
Tours of the homestead happen at 10:30am, 2:00pm and 3:30pm on weekends and public holidays but the venue is open on all other days of the week. It’s not just the homestead to see, because below the main building, there is an extensive array of old farm buildings and equipment to explore and Henry Thomas’ 1860’s brick extension to the original farm cottage.
The gardens are lovely and there is at least an hour of wandering to soak them up. A heritage rose garden is well underway, including many of the roses originally bred at Saumarez Homestead pre 1930’s.
When you visit, stay for a while. The homestead tour is fascinating, with 30 rooms to be shown through, all garnished with the original furnishings, furniture, artworks and photographs Maggie and her daughters filled the house with. You’ll understand the class and gender distinctions of the day clearly when you see how the house was built to cater for FJ and Maggie’s views on life. For instance, when servants came into the area of the main house, they always came upstairs, even if it was only one, so the building reflects that. The women all had bedrooms on the first floor but the men were all on the ground floor. Yes, I checked … the floorboards creak on the stairs. When electricity was introduced into the house, all of the light fittings were fixed into the ceiling close to windows so that with curtains drawn, the women would not cast shadows of their bodies which could be seen from outside.
Saumarez is a mecca for wedding and wedding photographers. A function centre has been built to cater for larger functions. There is also a café, albeit with a limited lunchtime choice but within that there are gluten-free options. They even serve gluten-free scones, which made my picky palette happy.
Take your camera, take a hat and take your time.
Written 4 February 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Dear Peter, Thank you for your very thorough review. You have provided a comprehensive overview of what Saumarez Homestead is and offers for visitors. We hope you visit again and bring your friends, Guided tours can also be arranged for small groups of 8 or more to order during the week.
Written 7 February 2017
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Mel_Syd_Australia
Sydney, Australia151 contributions
I'd never heard of the home and wasn't sure what to expect at all, but I was pleasantly surprised with the house, all its furnishings/original antiques and the very well explained history by the tour guide.
If you're in town and have a few hours to spare go check it out.
If you're in town and have a few hours to spare go check it out.
Written 27 December 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
442Mark
Brisbane, Australia42 contributions
Dec 2019
Thoroughly enjoyed the comprehensive tour of this grand old house and the history of the White Family who established it. Thanks go to Peter, our tour guide, who was a treasure trove of information while making the tour interesting and at times entertaining.
Written 3 January 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
php5
Stroud, UK158 contributions
Sept 2019
The staff are really enthusiastic and knowledgable so get the guided tour round the house. It's history is fascinating.
The cafe is really good too.
The cafe is really good too.
Written 25 September 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
So glad you enjoyed your visit to Saumarez Homestead. The volunteers and staff go out of their way to make everyone's visit special.
Written 27 September 2019
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
No questions have been asked about this experience
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