An Introduction to Protea Farm Cottages Vanessa & Fiona came to Australia from the UK in 2007, and after 18 months of traveling around the country in a Winnebago with James the dog, decided to settle in Mudgee after falling in love with the region, the people, and the food and wine. Vanessa is a Kiwi and Fiona is from the UK. We have been the owners of Protea Farm since Easter 2009 and now work full time developing the gardens and grounds and most of all ensuring that the guests at Protea Farm enjoy a relaxing and memorable Mudgee experience. Protea Farm Cottages are situated on 25 acres, half of which is cultivated and half natural bushland. Over 50 rather elderly and sickly protea plants were inherited which despite being droughttolerant had suffered over the last 8 years and succumbed to disease. Over the last 2 years we have been working hard to try and resurrect them and despite a few casualties they are starting to recover. They flower in late autumn/early winter and attract honey-eaters and Eastern spinebills in abundance. The 2011 crop of flowers has been very encouraging. The tennis court is a full sized sand court. Balls and racquets are provided. We are also trying to be environmentally conscious in and outside the cottages. We began this by installing solar hot water on all 3 cottages . Many pieces of furniture around the cottages are also recycled in some way, like the outdoor dining table at Protea Cottage which is Iron bark from a tree that came down in high winds at the Mudgee golf course. The High school students made it into a bench table for us. We are very lucky to have the bushland on the property as it provides us with a vast array of wildlife. We leave this area as untouched as possible providing a natural habitat for birds and mammals. We are planting a lot more trees and shrubs around the property of the food, native and wildlife habitat varieties. We have no top soil on the farm so the vegetable and garden beds were a challenge but thanks to the animal manure and bedding we now have rich soil full of worms. Each cottage has a herb garden with culinary herbs for your use and enjoyment so help yourselves. The erosion around the property is also being addressed via mulching and run off redirection. An Island on the dam was built to enable the Wood Ducks to safely raise their young out of the reach of the foxes. Even though the Island is just developing we had great success the summer of 2010 with two breeds of ducks raising their young on the island and Little Grebes also breeding for the 1st time. The dam is also home to a group of Eastern snake-necked turtles which you may see basking in the warm sun during the day.

Protea Farm Cottages  60 Carara Road  Mudgee NSW 2850  Ph/Fx: 02 6373 3300  Mobile: 0400 445 898  Email:stay@proteafarm.com.au

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