Own an entire kingdom for less than $5 million
FANCY yourself king or queen of the castle? For just under $5m you can reign over your own mini-kingdom as owner of a boutique accommodation business modelled on a traditional English village.
A medieval castle complete with turrets and a drawbridge is the dramatic centrepiece of the “fairytale” Tamborine Mountain property which was built and held by the same family for 25 years.
It is marketed with a sale price of $4.995m by Nori Hasenbein, of Ray White.
Owner Cheryl Carmichael drew on her family’s background as hoteliers to develop Lisson Grove estate from “two acres of red dirt” as a tribute to their British heritage.
The main lodge and cottages were established from 1997 with the castle added in 2011 at a cost of $1m.
“We thought every English village has a castle, so let’s build a castle,” Ms Carmichael said.
The unique business is set among 0.71ha of beautifully landscaped grounds located in southeast Queensland’s Scenic Rim region, renowned as a top tourism destination.
Tamborine Mountain itself was among the Gold Coast’s top property hotspots, with house prices in the area up 12.1 per cent in the three months to December 2021 to a median of $859,693, latest Corelogic data shows.
Ms Hasenbein said investors had the chance to purchase the estate as a whole for a limited time, before its various buildings were split into 10 strata titled units.
They include the six onebedroom cottages, two castle wings, one spa unit and the three-bedroom residence with a restaurant, liquor licence, and management rights.
“The appeal to purchase the whole property is in the instant equity. The individual prices for the ten units on offer add up to $6.3m. All approvals to strata title the property have been granted,” Ms Hasenbein said.
Ms Carmichael and son Nicholas run the accommodation and events business with a team of six to eight people.
Guests pay a tariff of $600 per night to stay in one of two wings of the castle — each has a private plunge pool and balcony — or can spend the weekend in their preferred cottage.
“The whole atmosphere is very fairytale-like,” said Ms Carmichael, who is selling the business to enter retirement.