Our chapter at Stanton

In 2013 Garth and I decided we wanted a change of lifestyle. The heat in Brisbane Queensland was getting too much and the office environment constricting. We started browsing the internet and quickly became entranced by the possibilities in Tasmania.

When we found Stanton on the market we thought it amazing that we could soon be living in one of Australia's oldest homes. Stanton isn't a grand holding but a real farmhouse and a bit higgledly piggedly from all the changes down the generations. We thought we could make it our home. So we did!

On the house's 200th anniversary, in 2017, we welcomed descendants of Thomas Shone, the original owner of the property, to celebrate their family reunion.

In 2018 Garth passed away and it is a comfort to us to know he loved his life at Stanton during the previous five years. There was always something to keep him busy and he adored looking after the animals, especially the ducks and geese. I have now been joined here by both our kids, first Baden and then Rhiannon and her husband Michael. And the next chapter begins…

Our family experiences a lot of joy being part of the local community and sharing Stanton with our guests.

~ Lisa West

Stanton is a welcoming convict brick Georgian farmhouse built in 1817. Stanton was never a flashy, stately house, it has always been a farmhouse and because of this has a warm and welcoming feel. It’s undeniably a home, not a house.

Stanton has provided a home for countless generations and has seen many changes and renovations. However, it still has a lot of its original features and charms. In fact, the original sandstone stairs as you approach the front door are noticeably concave, worn down and marked by the feet of more than 200 years of footfalls from every person who has been before.

Our guests enjoy sole use of the drawing room with its cosy atmosphere and open fire, the dining room downstairs, as well as the upstairs tea room, sun room and the Victorian verandahs.

The house has a wonderful history with so many stories that seem to come straight from the movies. Read our ‘Stanton Stories’ for more tales of the house, including the story of Martin Cash ‘The Gentleman Bushranger’.

The house

 The property

The property is sixteen acres encompassing paddocks, orchards, gardens and ponds. Roaming around discovering new corners of the property is an adventure. Feel free to sample whatever is ripe and in season as you stroll through the orchard and kick into low-gear sitting by the gullies and ponds trying to spot the eternally shy and secretive platypus.

Enjoy the clear Tassie night sky with more stars than you could imagine with one of the local beers, wines or ciders we stock (just note what you take on your honesty tab).

Be sure to introduce yourself to our small menagerie of animals including ducks and geese (the duck eggs make a great breakfast!), Little Man the rooster and his harem of ladies, our pet sheep Minty, Stuart and Lolly. We keep a few thousand wonderful bees who work hard to provide us with honey and an abundance of fruit - if you don’t get in the way of them working they won’t even notice you.

If you’d like an activity that’s a little more defined consider a picnic and game of boules in the orchard, enjoying a cheese platter, drinks and great company on the verandah or warming your toes with a great book by the fire.

With all animals, paddocks and land our property is a wonderful adventure land for kids but please be aware that our three dams do provide a potential danger for smaller children. Children must be supervised by adults.