Property of the Week: Yverlyn Farm, 44 Rishworths Lane, Brooklet

An equine retreat in the Byron Bay hinterland has recently resurfaced with a substantial price amendment, amounting to as much as a $4 million discount.

After initially listing for $14 million late last year, Yverlyn Farm is now on the market with price expectations between $10 and $12 million through Deborah Cullen and Richard Royle of Forbes Global Properties.

Tucked away in Brooklet, near Olivia Newton John’s former Gaia retreat and 22kms from the famous shores of Byron Bay, the 14ha estate blends the best of the region’s remote natural beauty with world class equestrian facilities and unobstructed views of the majestic Nightcap Ranges and Minyon Falls.

Owned by boutique renovation expert Rose Deo, co-founder of game design company Halfback Productions the company behind Fruit Ninja, Yverlyn Farm was once a working wholesale nursery. Today the luxury estate has been transformed into one of Byron Bay’s most desirable equestrian estates, home to a modern four-bedroom residence, additional guest accomodation, contemporary stables, an Olympic arena, several paddocks, and expansive grounds.

In the main house the spacious layout incorporates multiple living spaces framed by a choice of outdoor areas from the wraparound veranda to the alfresco dining area.

At the heart of the single-storey footprint, a grand dining room features a cosy sandstone combustion fireplace and an adjoining shaker-style kitchen features an imported Lacanche range cooker, bespoke cabinetry, and deVol aged brass tapware. There is also a butler’s pantry and laundry with external side access.

All four bedrooms have built-in wardrobes and big windows showcasing the picturesque natural surrounds. From the primary suite there are panoramic views of the hinterland, a large walk-in wardrobe and grand ensuite with freestanding bathtub.

When it comes to outdoor features there is a fully tiled and heated mineral pool, a majestic tree-lined driveway, a French limestone fountain, an orchard, parterre garden, and established vegetable patch. The property’s rich history is also evident in its original drystone fences, a legacy of the Irish settlers who built them in the late 1800s.

For the equestrian enthusiast, Yverlyn Farm includes a professionally designed stable block with six air-conditioned stalls, covered day yards, a tack room and wash bay. A full-sized Olympic arena comes complete with LED lighting and an irrigated European surface.

Above the stable block, a fully self-contained guest suite has two bedrooms with ensuites.

Additional accommodation includes the original dairy which has been transformed into a studio or office space with a slow-combustion wood fireplace, kitchenette and bathroom.

Nine paddocks and a dam provide ample space for roaming horses to roam and there is a separate barn plus a machinery shed.

Yverlyn Farm is listed with Deborah Cullen and Richard Royle of Forbes Global Properties with a price guide of $10 to $12 million.

Many luxury hotels only build on their gilded reputations with each passing decade. But others are less fortunate. Here are five long-gone grandes dames that fell from grace—and one that persists, but in a significantly diminished form.

The Proto-Marmont |

The Garden of Allah, Los Angeles

A magnet for celebrities, the Garden of Allah was once the scene-making equivalent of today’s Chateau Marmont. Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner’s affair allegedly started there and Humphrey Bogart lived in one of its bungalows for a time.

Crimean expat Alla Nazimova leased a grand home in Hollywood after World War I, but soon turned it into a hotel, where she prioritised glamorous clientele. Others risked being ejected by guards and a fearsome dog dubbed the Hound of the Baskervilles. Demolished in the 1950s, the site’s now a parking lot.

The Failed Follow-Up |

Hotel Astor, New York City

The Astor family hoped to repeat their success when they opened this sequel to their megahit Waldorf Astoria hotel in 1904. It became an anchor of the nascent Theater District, buzzy (and naughty) enough to inspire Cole Porter to write in “High Society”: “Have you heard that Mimsie Starr…got pinched in the Astor Bar?”

That bar soon gained another reputation. “Gentlemen who preferred the company of other gentlemen would meet in a certain section of the bar,” said travel expert Henry Harteveldt of consulting firm Atmosphere Research. By the 1960s, the hotel had lost its lustre and was demolished; the 54-storey One Astor Plaza skyscraper was built in its place.

The Island Playground |

Santa Carolina Hotel, Bazaruto Archipelago, Mozambique

In the 1950s, colonial officers around Africa treated Mozambique as an off-duty playground. They flocked, in particular, to the Santa Carolina, a five-star hotel on a gorgeous archipelago off the country’s southern coast.

Run by a Portuguese businessman and his wife, the resort included an airstrip that ferried visitors in and out. Ask locals why the place was eventually reduced to rubble, and some whisper that the couple were cursed—and that’s why no one wanted to take over when the business collapsed in the ’70s. Today, seeing the abandoned, crumbled ruins and murals bleached by the sun, it’s hard to dismiss their superstitions entirely.

The Tourism Gimmick |

Bali Hai Raiatea, French Polynesia

The overwater bungalow, a shorthand for barefoot luxury around the world, began in French Polynesia—but not with the locals. Instead, it was a marketing gimmick cooked up by a trio of rascally Americans. They moved to French Polynesia in the late 1950s, and soon tried to capitalise on the newly built international airport and a looming tourism boom.

That proved difficult because their five-room hotel on the island of Raiatea lacked a beach. They devised a fix: building rooms on pontoons above the water. They were an instant phenomenon, spreading around the islands and the world—per fan site OverwaterBungalows.net , there are now more than 9,000 worldwide, from the Maldives to Mexico. That first property, though, is no more.

The New England Holdout |

Poland Springs Resort, Poland, Maine

The Ricker family started out as innkeepers, running a stagecoach stop in Maine in the 1790s. When Hiram Ricker took over the operation, the family expanded into the business by which it would make its fortune: water. Thanks to savvy marketing, by the 1870s, doctors were prescribing Poland Spring mineral water and die-hards were making pilgrimages to the source.

The Rickers opened the Poland Spring House in 1876, and eventually expanded it to include one of the earliest resort-based golf courses in the country, a barber shop, dance studio and music hall. By the turn of the century, it was among the most glamorous resort complexes in New England.

Mismanagement eventually forced its sale in 1962, and both the water operation and hospitality holdings went through several owners and operators. While the water venture retains its prominence, the hotel has weathered less well, becoming a pleasant—but far from luxurious—mid-market resort. Former NYU hospitality professor Bjorn Hanson says attempts at upgrading over the decades have been futile. “I was a consultant to a developer in the 1970s to return the resort to its ‘former glory,’ but it never happened.”