23 September 2019

Beautifully renovated home steeped in history for sale among the hills of Cooma

| Glynis Quinlan
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Historic ‘Springwell’ is on the market near Cooma. All photos supplied by Luton Properties Tuggeranong.

A large stately home with early pastoral origins is on the market near Cooma and offers a rare combination of historical significance coupled with the lifestyle benefits of its gifted renovation.

‘Springwell’ at 1551 Maffra Road, is set among Cooma’s famed hills ‘The Brothers’ and is steeped in the history of the region.

First constructed for pioneer grazier James Litchfield in 1896 using bricks made on the property, the home was completed in 1907 and built to the design of GD Cochran. It is said to be representative of substantial Monaro homesteads built at the end of the Victorian period.

‘Springwell’ has 26 rooms in total, including seven bedrooms and three bathrooms. It sits on 141 hectares of rich basalt pasture, although potential buyers have the option of only purchasing 20 hectares (50 acres) if they prefer.

The price guide is around $2 million for the full property or around $1.5 million for the home, buildings and 20 hectares.

In addition to the historic home, the property features a two-bedroom renovated cottage, historic sheds and outbuildings, and mature parkland gardens.

Listing agent, Rex Purcell of Luton Properties Tuggeranong said that properties such as ‘Springwell’ rarely come onto the market and it is attracting enquiries from as wide afield as Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, the Central Coast and out West.

He said the home has been beautifully restored to its original splendour by the current owners who spent three years on the project. The current owners are the only ones to have lived at ‘Springwell’ outside of the Litchfield family who kept it in their hands until 2009.

Mr Purcell said that on first sight of the property, visitors immediately get a sense of “the history and grandeur of times gone by”.

“On arrival, the long, winding, tree-lined driveway offers glimpses of quality Angus cattle grazing the property’s rich basalt pasture paddocks leading to mature parkland gardens,” Mr Purcell said.

“Situated in a commanding position overlooking the surrounding countryside, the gracious home has a garden and rural vistas.

“The hallway, which resembles the length and width of a cricket pitch, stretches past the formal lounge and dining rooms and draws the guest through to the former billiard room while the glorious master bedroom is across the hall and overlooks the garden.,” he said.


“All of the entertaining rooms have grand open fireplaces, as do most of the bedrooms, while a three-phase reverse cycle system ensures year-round comfort to the main living areas of the house.”

Mr Purcell said the home is 15 kilometres south of Cooma, 75 minutes’ drive from Canberra, and 1.5 hours’ drive from the snowfields or the coast.

For more information or to arrange an inspection of the home, contact Mr Purcell on 0411 781 863 or click here for further details.


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