Miranda Kerr at Loggerheads in the Hunter with prestige property buy

Model Miranda Kerr emerges as the buyer of one of the finest estates in the NSW Hunter Valley established by the late winemaker Len Evans.

Loggerheads in the Hunter region sold for $7.5m to Miranda Kerr.

One of the finest estates in the NSW Hunter Valley, Loggerheads, has sold for around its asking price of $7.5m.

Established by the late winemaker and columnist Len Evans, the 87ha estate is believed to have been purchased by the Los Angeles based international model, Miranda Kerr.

The seven-bedroom Loggerheads homestead, designed in the Australian country style with European features, is a favourite with Ms Kerr who has spent past Christmases holidaying at the estate in the tiny Hunter Region hamlet of Pokolbin.

Loggerheads vendor, boutique hotelier, QT Hotels, which is controlled by the listed Event Hospitality and Entertainment, started marketing the property earlier this year, having abandoned plans to develop it into a larger accommodation enterprise.

Miranda Kerr.

The sale to Ms Kerr is expected to settle as early as Monday. A company known as Sunflower Fun recently placed a caveat over the entire 97 Palmers Lane, Pokolbin, property. Sunflower Fun is a nominee company controlled by commercial law firm Arnold Bloch Leibler. The Melbourne law firm did not respond to inquiries.

The estate includes a 36-year-old vineyard, plus the homestead which has been refurbished by Michael Suttor with landscaping by Victorian-based celebrity gardener Paul Bangay. It includes a summer house, swimming pool and orchard. A huge dining room spills on to wide verandas and alfresco dining. Outdoors there is an orchard, vegetable garden and mature trees.

Local agents said Loggerheads, which has established plantings of shiraz and gammay vines, is widely regarded as having the best position in Pokolbin.

Its Broke Road frontage earns a passive rental income from a fully licensed cellar door wine sales outlet as well as a separate residence, a dairy and wine storage shed. While the Palmers Lane frontage sports a gatehouse with a two-bedroom manager’s residence plus a cellar door. The estate has several storage dams, a lagoon plus town water.

The kitchen and dining area at Loggerheads in the Hunter Valley.

Prior to QT Hotels purchase of the estate for $6m in 2016, Loggerheads was previously held by a former Macquarie director Robin Crawford. The late Mr Crawford purchased the estate from Len Evans Holdings for $5.15m in 2008. Mr Evans founded the famous Rothbury Estate in the 1970s and purchased Loggerheads’ vast land holdings from the Tyrrell winemaking family.

Ms Kerr has a previous history with Loggerheads, having rented the entire estate for a Christmas holiday back in 2015.

Selling agent Alan Jurd of Jurds Real Estate had a $7.5m price guide on it. Asked if Ms Kerr was the buyer Mr Jurd said: “I have never met her.”

The Hunter Valley real estate market has been buoyed by a string of high-priced sales, particularly from Sydney buyers who have been exhibiting cabin fever due to the COVID-19 lockdowns.

The view from Loggerheads.