Boutique accommodation business with medieval castle for sale

Queen of the castle: Owner Cheryl Carmichael designed and built the village 25 years ago with her son. Picture: Jerad Williams

Fancy yourself king or queen of the castle? For just under $5 million 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 $4.995 million by Nori Hasenbein, of Ray White.

The castle is a tribute to the family’s British heritage

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.

“I was looking to move into a new business and I wanted to incorporate the love I had for my parents and their background,” Ms Carmichael said.

“My father was Scottish. His family business in Brisbane was building English Tudor homes so I had a great knowledge and appreciation for them.

“I looked for somewhere that would be suitable and Tamborine Mountain of course was,” she said.

Each wing of the castle has a private plunge pool

The main lodge and cottages were established from 1997, with the medieval castle added in 2011 at a cost of $1 million.

“We thought every English village has a castle, so let’s build a castle,” Ms Carmichael said.

It took over a year to finish and involved extensive research to ensure authenticity, incorporating bespoke door handles and hinges, leadlight windows and antique furniture sourced from Europe.

The unique business is set among 0.71 ha 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.

The six cottages are rented for romantic weekend getaways

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 ten strata titled units.

They include the six one-bedroom cottages, two luxury castle wings, one spa unit and the

main three-bedroom residence with a restaurant, liquor license, 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 $6.3 million. All approvals to strata title the property have been granted, so an investor could purchase the whole property right now for $4.995 million and then sell the parts off individually, making over $1 million in profit instantly,” she said.

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“So far most of our inquiries have been from smaller investors, looking to buy a small part of this unique investment opportunity. They have been looking for a no-work weekender, with all the maintenance being taken care of by the onsite manager.

“Alternatively if someone is looking for the ultimate treechange, this business, as a whole, provides for a great income as well as an interesting lifestyle in beautiful surroundings,” Ms Hasenbein said.

Ms Carmichael and son Nicholas run the accommodation and events business with a team of six to eight people.

Ms Carmichael enjoys preparing gourmet meals for her guests

The castle suites have a private balcony

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.

It is a popular venue for weddings, honeymoons, engagements and elopements, with many regular guests returning to enjoy an escape from the pace of city life.

They enjoy misty morning strolls through the gardens, breathing in crisp mountain air before feasting on Ms Carmichael’s home-cooked meals.“When our guests come here they feel they’re in some place magical and it does have such a great effect on people,” Ms Carmichael said.

“The whole atmosphere is very fairytale-like.”

She is selling the business to enter retirement.

English-style gardens flourish in the temperate mountain climate