An acreage property owned by late former Wollongong Wolves chairman and businessman Doug Symes has been listed for sale.
'Bellissimo', nestled in the foothills of the Berry escarpment, is currently in use as an equestrian facility.
The 30-acre property, located at 71 Boxsells Lane, Meroo Meadow has a price guide of $6 million.
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Doug Symes
Mr Symes was 79 when he died on June 16 last year.
During Mr Symes' time as chair of the Wollongong Wolves, the well-known Wollongong businessman and stockbroker secured the Illawarra its first national sporting team title.
Mr Symes was club chair when the Wolves fought back from a 3-0 half-time deficit to beat Perth Glory 7-6 in a dramatic penalty shootout to win the 1999-2000 National Soccer League grand final.
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A stockbroker by profession, he also played a significant role in establishing the Black and White Committee with his wife during his time as Wollongong Rotary president.
Mr Symes and wife Jenifer also raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the B&W and the Shepherd Centre for hearing-impaired children.
Mr Symes was also involved in the University of Wollongong, advocating for higher education, and mentored many students in his Wollongong business.
'Kind of quirky, but beautiful'
Mrs Symes said as keen horse enthusiasts they eagerly bought and moved to the Meroo Meadow property in 2004.
She said the quality of the infrastructure, serenity, and the "stunning" gardens were among the standout features of the property.
"The home was architecturally kind of quirky, but beautiful at the same time," she said.
"While there was prize cattle here at the time; it easily became a turnkey equestrian property with a few modifications.
"We moved here, and I started to breed horses, so it became Bellissimo stud.
"We ended up taking agistment horses as well... We assisted aged and vulnerable horses, because there was a need for that."
The property
The four-bedroom manor house is constructed of rustic sandstone brick, solid cedar paneling, and walls of timber framed French doors and windows.
There's a grand entertaining area with cathedral ceilings, exposed solid timber beams, and architectural columns.
While 'Bellissimo' is being marketed as a turn-key haven for the equestrian devotee - with infrastructure that allows the pursuit of horse interests - it's also adaptable to cattle, cropping or any other rural activity of interest.
Infrastructure features include the arena, which is floodlit, Olympic-size, with Penrose Quarry mix surface, water and mirrors; and the stables feature six boxes with integrated day yards, complemented by a full-scale barn, paddock shelter, steel round yard, tack room and wash bay.
Mrs Symes said the stables were there when they moved in, but they installed the infrastructure for the arena, pack rooms, wash bays, enhanced the gardens, and overall "continued to develop the place".
The property also features three-phase power, and three dual heat pump hot water systems. There's also a large high-bay three-door shed/garage built to house heavy machinery, horse floats, tractors and feed storage.
On the market
Mrs Symes said deciding to sell the property was "the end of an era in a lot of ways".
"I absolutely love this property... But I just think it's time, I need to start anew," she said.
"This property needs to evolve, be in someone else's hands who will keep evolving it, because it's just magnificent.
"I'm brokenhearted to leave here, but excited at the same time. I'm grateful for the time I've had here. Whoever buys it will be very lucky."
The selling agent, Shane Hilaire from Ray White said there had been early interest from horse enthusiasts.
He expected there would be predominantly Sydney-based buyer interest, "with people who are looking for a lifestyle change down this way".
"It's set up for horse enthusiasts, but it doesn't necessarily have to be a horse enthusiast that's in there," he said.
"You could put some cattle on there and run it for cattle and do some showing if you wanted to.
"There's a lot of creature comforts, but not withstanding that you're only a few minutes out of Bomaderry and 10 minutes to Berry."
