THREE Guildford families – the Snooke, Laurence and Yuen – have come together to restore what was formerly known as the Garden Hill Estate.

The property was first purchased by Alfred Waylen in 1842, with the existing buildings constructed circa 1896 as a gardener’s cottage and stables for his son. Further developments were added in 1902 by the Padbury farm.

In 1998, Guildford Grammar School Foundation acquired the property before selling it to the three families in 2026.

The site sits on 9ha of the Swan River floodplain and has four historic buildings on site – the stables, the dairy shed, the dairy store, and the cottage.

Property owner Nicole Laurence said the families knew each other before purchasing the land as they all lived around the area but didn’t all have close ties with each other.

“It was actually the property that brought us together,” she said.

“It was more the wanting to get possession of the land and try and keep it in our families. We just kept talking and seeing if we could bring it to life and make it happen, so when this opportunity came up, we knew it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Ms Laurence said uncovering the history of the site has been both overwhelming and exciting.

“The property has almost been revealing its story to us. As we have been cleaning up the area we found things like an old brick road, which we didn’t know about,” she said.

“You really have to be open to seeing what comes up and engage with the relevant people like the locals who have been living here for a long time, the heritage architects and the Swan-Guildford Historical Society – it’s all about gathering information and learning.”

Future plans for the property are still undecided.

“At the moment there’s lots of options and people are throwing around a lot of ideas from a wine bar to a wedding reception to a veterinary hospital to equine therapy, but I think the first step is just restoring the buildings and we’re going to be applying for heritage grants to help us do that,” Ms Laurence said.

“We’re also going to be environmentally focused. There’s a wetland here we really want to restore. We want to take care of it and the birds and combine that with caring for the land and trees.”

Ms Laurence said their biggest challenge has been drainage.

“The land is very wet and the clay holds the water so a lot of the work we’ve been doing is earthworks to try and fix the drainage because that’s undermining the foundations of the buildings,” she said.

“We are then going to repair or replace the old yards that were there – they were originally sheep, cattle and horse yards, so we are going to replace them with new ones that are not rotten and falling over.”

The families have experienced a lot of support from the neighbours adjacent to the property with some even volunteering their time to help in the restoration process.

According to Ms Laurence, a lot of the neighbours didn’t know each other but have now met through the project.

She also said that although there is a lot yet to be decided, they really want the place to ultimately provide value to the community.

“I think what’s coming out is how beautiful the place used to be back in its day and I think it’s on us to try and bring that back, care for it and protect it,” she said.