Heritage Accommodation

Gardener's Cottage

One bedroom. Queen bed. Ground level. The most intimate heritage cottage on a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Romantic accommodation in Longford, 20 minutes from Launceston.

Exterior

Gardener's Cottage

Bathroom

Overview

The Couples Cottage

Gardener’s Cottage is the most private and intimate of the six heritage cottages at Woolmers Estate, and the most requested for romantic getaways and honeymoons in Tasmania.

One bedroom with a queen bed, crisp white linen and electric blankets. All on ground level with a small step down to the recently renovated bathroom. A fully self-contained kitchen, wood heater with plenty of firewood, and electric heating throughout. The cottage looks out across the fields towards the historic township of Longford.

Tucked behind heritage hedgerows away from the day-visit areas, Gardener’s Cottage offers the kind of privacy and quiet that guests come back for. During rose season, you’re steps from 5,000 roses in Australia’s National Rose Garden.

Your stay includes General Admission to the estate, the Unshackled convict experience, after-hours access to the entire 13-hectare grounds, a complimentary continental breakfast each morning and a complimentary Devonshire tea on the afternoon of your arrival, both served in the Servants Kitchen.

$250

from / night

guests

80m²

self-contained

Ground

level

Breakfast

Included

Devonshire Tea

Complimentary

Cottage Details

At a Glance

Bedrooms

1 (queen)

Bathrooms

1 (recently renovated, small step down)

Size

80m²

Level access

Mostly (small step to bathroom)

Kitchen

Fully self-contained

Heating

Wood heater, electric heating, electric blankets

Wifi

Free

Parking

On-site

Before You Book

Good to Know

Gardener’s Cottage is the best option for guests who prefer ground-level accommodation with no stairs. There is one small step down to the bathroom.

The cottage is the closest to the National Rose Garden, which blooms from October through February. It’s also the most secluded of the cottages, with heritage hedgerows providing complete privacy from the day-visit areas.

Longford is 7km from the estate, with a well-stocked supermarket for self-catering supplies. Your stay includes a complimentary continental breakfast each morning and a complimentary Devonshire tea on the afternoon of your arrival, both served in the Servants Kitchen. Chef-prepared dinner boxes can be purchased at the Servants Kitchen, which is also stocked with tea, coffee, milk and essentials until 6:30pm.

Reviews

What Guests Say

"It was an absolute delight. I loved the feeling of stepping back in time. The rose garden was particularly nice."

Harley B

"Self-contained kitchen, wood burning heater, bedroom with queen bed. Fire and heaters on when we arrived."

Booking.com guest

"Nothing to dislike about Woolmers, I just love the place."

Louise — Return visitor

History

The Gardener's Story

The Gardener’s Cottage was built in the 1840s during the convict building period at Woolmers. It was designed in Gothic style as a picturesque element in the landscape on the drive between Woolmers Cottage and the main house, a building meant to be seen as much as lived in. The head gardener held one of the most prestigious positions on a colonial property, and this cottage reflects that. Small, but carefully placed and architecturally considered.

At an estate like Woolmers, where the grounds and orchards were both productive and ornamental, the gardener’s skill shaped how the property looked and what it yielded. The kitchen garden fed the household. The orchard supplied cider for the workers and, in a good year, an export. The grounds received governors and dignitaries. The person tending them needed to know what he was doing.
James Isles was that person. A gardener from Wiltshire who arrived at Woolmers in 1836 with a seven-year sentence, convicted of malicious stabbing with intent to murder. The crime involved a group shooting game on private land and the stabbing of the keeper who caught them. What specific role Isles played in the events was never definitively recorded.

What the diary entries of William Archer show is that the Archers were prepared to give people a second chance. Isles took his with both hands, remaining on the property as a paid employee well beyond the end of his sentence. The last known record of him at Woolmers is a cheque dated October 1842: £15.10.0, paid in full.

James Isles died of natural causes in Launceston in 1846. He was forty-four years old.

The building has been altered over the years as its use changed, but the basic form remains as it was built. It appears to have been occupied as late as the 1930s before its restoration as guest accommodation.

Image representation created by Matt Daniels based on the Tasmanian convict records

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