Selling a property that's been in the family for decades is always an emotional time – after all, as the old saying goes, every person's house is their castle.
But imagine if the property was an actual castle.
Welcome to the world of Rachael Moore and her husband Andre Meyer.
Rachel and her siblings inherited the extraordinary property at Gleniffer, south-west of Coffs Harbour in northern NSW, when her aunt Barbara Moore passed away from brain cancer in 2021.
Barbara had a dream about a castle in the 1990s, and spent about $3.5 million to turn it into a reality.
"Aunty Barb, she was very eccentric, she was a very unique human being," Rachael said.
"Who dreams of a castle and then builds it?"
The castle, originally designed as a chapel, features 12 stained-glass windows, which were hand-picked from a church in Scotland.
Upstairs, an opulent "Rapunzel room" features a Juliet balcony at the top of an elaborate winding staircase.
Rachael said her aunt felt like she had never "finished" building, but relished the challenge of maintaining the property.
"She loved it so much that it was a pure joy to get on the lawnmower, even when she was in her 70s and had already started feeling the effects of a brain tumour [and] could hardly walk,"
she said.
It might sound like a fairytale, but Rachael said the property required plenty of hard work.
"It's a little bit like a fairytale of Cinderella sometimes, because you're at this enchanted magical ball with the glass slipper, but you're also scrubbing the floor," she laughed.
In addition to a scrubbing brush, would-be princes and princesses need to have a green thumb to trim the hedge maze and maintain the vast gardens, where Barbara spent a lot of her time.
Not a minimalist
Family friend Linda Dalton said Barbara's personality could be seen throughout the castle in everything from a decorative bathroom chandelier to the ancient religious books on display.
"Barb said herself she wasn't a minimalist; Barb hated that idea, she wanted everything," Linda said.
Barbara never married or had any children.
Her family said she became "married" to the land.
"She planted more than 10,000 trees, brought a lot of native plants back, then the nature came, the birds, wallabies,"
Andre said.
Neighbour Kevin Evans said the estate was so special due to the location of the castle.
"I think most people walked into the castle and their jaws were on the floor, it was really quite extraordinary," he said.
"It's not an appropriate building in terms of the landscape here in the subtropics."
In recent years, Rachel and Andre have run the property as a bed and breakfast while they live in the homestead just up from the castle.
"I think she'd be stoked — we've literally brought her vision to life, which she wasn't able to do at the end of her life, because it was too much," Rachel said.
Moving forward
The strain of maintaining the property to Barb's lofty standards has taken its toll.
"The gardening, you know, it's so much work," Andre said.
The family has decided it is time to sell up and move on, leaving Barb's proud bequest for someone else to inherit.
"It feels like it belongs to our family, but it can also be a legacy for a new family,"
Rachael said.
"Such is life, we can't hold onto everything forever."
