By Mikayla van Loon
It’s not very often historic homes come up for sale that celebrate the memory of the original owners.
The small country town of Yea is home to the grand Beaufort Manor, a nineteenth century home built by a husband for his soon-to-be wife.
With immense charm, high ceilings, chandeliers, a ballroom and 2855 square metres of beautifully landscaped gardens, the heritage represents a bygone era of majesty.
The romance of the building itself is something to be celebrated, a story of love between an English couple James Sanders and Charlotte Emily Sandall.
Lilydale’s Stockdale and Leggo real estate agents have been given the responsibility of selling the property and lead agent Sharyn Manning said there’s so much detail to the design of the house more than meets the eye.
“It was built in 1876 by a man named James Sanders, he built it for his wife and it was built of 3000 handmade local bricks. They’re really beautiful. They’re not just ordinary, they’re different colours and look magnificent,” she said.
The mystery of who James Sanders was, where he came from and how he was able to build such a house is unknown but from what has been found the name Beaufort came from Miss Sandall’s home in Beaufort Square, Bath, England – bring a little piece of home to Yea.
Since the time it was built, the house and property has had multiple lives, rebirthing as something different each time.
From hosting special guests like Dame Nellie Melba with the Yea Orchestral Society to housing 130 evacuated students from Ivanhoe Grammar during World War Two in 1942, its history is diverse and unique.
“It’s been a lot of things. It’s got a good, interesting history and it’s in the heritage precinct of Yea and there is quite a bit of heritage in Yea,” Ms Manning said.
Most recently the house has been operated for nine years as both a residence and self-catered wedding venue by Lisa and Stewart Cornwall.
The pair moved from their Wandin property after purchasing the estate and took to renovating the grounds and house itself without losing any of its heritage.
“They’ve rejuvenated and refreshed it. They’ve taken what was like an ivy creeper that was all over it originally, they’ve taken that all down. They’ve had it all cleaned. They’ve had it all repointed,” Ms Manning said.
“They consolidated three blocks into one title to make sure there was a bit of land around it and they were only about 1000 square metre blocks. So that preserves it as well and gives it space for a lovely garden.”
Now wanting to be closer to family, the bittersweet decision to sell has come to finality after toying with the idea for a few months.
The property located at 111 High Street Yea backs onto the public gardens and the Great Victorian Rail Trail, as well as being zoned as a commercial property to be used in a similar way to what it is now or to take shape in a new form.
“It’s a great looking building. Really, really elegant and of the time. They haven’t spoiled it by trying to modernise it or anything like that.”
