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June long weekend
June 5 – 8

Intimate Cooking Schools at
Thorn Park by the vines

School holidays on Kangaroo Island

Aging in Venice!
The boy’s travels took them to Venice for four days – it was David’s second trip and Michael’s third to this amazing watery city. It also included the day that David turned 55! During their travels David kept up an ongoing email diary and we thought we should share some of the eating and drinking in Venice!

updated May 25, 2009
Thorn Park mark two!

Just when everyone thought we were going to retire to Watervale and slow down, we announce that we have planned a new purpose–built Bed and Breakfast retreat! Our last newsletter started with the statement ’This may well be our last newsletter as owners of Thorn Park Country House’. And it also went on to say ’Surprisingly there has been total confusion about what we are doing next. Rumours have abounded! The bottom line is we really do not have any plans beyond having a long ’rest’. Well we did not have any plans for a while!
If you have missed the news, we sold to our next door neighbours, the Manresa Society, better known as the Jesuits, who run Sevenhill Cellars and the Saint Ignatius Centre for Spiritual Retreats. It was the perfect sale, as we had hoped that they might consider buying the property (they had owned it back in the 1850’s) and use it as an extension of their retreat centre. The sale took place in October 2007 and we arranged that we would lease it back for twelve months so that we could ’plan’ our departure.
Our best laid plans to build at Watervale ran into a few planning problems that had us getting very frustrated, as we had hoped that it would be completed before we finished up at Thorn Park Country House. To cut a fairly boring story short, we decided to look for another piece of land, and before we knew it we had purchased a beautiful eucalypt–studded twelve acre block on Quarry Road, less than two kilometers from the old property. Next we redesigned our house plans to develop a small gourmet retreat, with two guest rooms. So much for retirement!

Thorn Park by the vines is a contemporary interpretation of our old homestead and has a lovely an ’Australianess’ about it. It is an exquisite private location, with bush and vineyard views looking out over our dam. The galley kitchen is the center (and heart) of the house design and is suited to cooking schools. The large and airy living spaces house a formal sitting area, dining room and cosy library. We have had fun buying some beautiful antiques and new pieces of furniture to combine with cherished items taken from the old property.
There are two guest rooms, both very individual, so we now only cater for four guests. The rooms are equipped with everything to make your stay comfortable, including air conditioning, heating and a desk for those who just have to work! Large en–suite bathrooms have heated floors, walk in showers, and expansive views. Being Thorn Park, food has to be the focal point, breakfast on the northern deck overlooking vineyards or by the fire in winter. Dinner remains a must, with David in the kitchen and Michael as your host, why would you ever think of dining out?

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All of the Thorn Park properties can be seen on our new web site www.thornpark.com.au stunningly designed by our friend
Ann Oliver. Not only can the girl cook better than anyone else, she also is one of the country’s best food writers and reviewers and when not cooking, writing, reviewing or painting wondrous art works, she designs web sites!

Thorn Park on the island
Never a pair to sit back, whilst building the new house we also extended our property on Kangaroo Island. The island is loved for its rugged unspoiled coastline, untamed bushland beauty and wild life, including koalas, wallabies, fairy penguins and, most exotic of all, Australian fur seals, Thorn Park on the island is the perfect base for an extended visit to South Australia’s most famous tourist destination.

Thorn Park in the city
City life has not been forgotten; situated in the café society of Hutt Street, Thorn Park in the city is well sited to experience city life to the fullest! Presently booked until early 2010, it will be available for short and medium term reservations.

 

Michael looking wonderfully relaxed in Hydra

That retirement? Well we did spend three glorious months travelling through Europe and Turkey. We visited Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Austria, Greece, the Greek islands, Turkey then back to Italy and a few days in Paris. In October we celebrated 25 years together (and David’s 55th & Michael’s 65th birthdays) with thirty friends from all over the globe on the tiny Greek island of Hydra. We also did everything from bike riding on the Dalmatian coast, swimming on a dozen different beaches, hot air ballooning in Cappadocia to power walking around Vienna and eating, and eating! We also plan to return to Europe for several months later this year, so we have had a bit of a ’rest’!

We look forward to welcoming you to the ’new’ Thorn Park by the vines and sharing our table with you.

School holidays
on Kangaroo Island
Thorn Park on the island offers the perfect destination for families to spend time together. The house is available for a minimum one week booking (Friday to Friday) during the school holiday seasons. With the safe swimming beach below the house, local restaurants, hotel, shops and even a wine cellar door in the village of Penneshaw Thorn Park on the island makes for a relaxing holiday.

Shakespeare on the lawns at Sevenhill Cellars
February 19 – 21st Shakespeare on the Lawns (Thursday & Friday Nights)
Join us for the Essential Theatre Company’s sunset performance of Shakespeare’s A Mid Summer’s Night’s Dream on the lawns at Sevenhill Cellars on Friday 20th. We have arranged for our guests to join in the fun, with tickets to the performance, refreshments and supper back at Thorn Park after the performance. The package includes two nights accommodation, dinner both nights & breakfast both mornings. Please note that the package is Thursday & Friday nights
Cost $550.00 per person, double/twin share

March Long weekend on Kangaroo Island
March 6 – 9
Jump ship from the Adelaide Cup and spend a few days enjoying the delights of Kangaroo Island. Try the local wines and cheeses; drop a line for some fresh fish or just sloth out on the deck with a good book!
Three day self contained package
Cost $ 595.00 for up to six guests

At Thorn Park by the vines looking past the dining room, to the tarrace and the vineyards beyond

Bundaleer Music Weekend
March 27 – 29
This will be the fifth Bundaleer weekend and promises to be even more exciting than the last four (if that’s possible). Set in Australia’s oldest plantation forest, the weekend’s highlight is the Saturday twilight concert with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, and tenor Simon O’Neil and Soprano Cheryl Barker. A magical weekend, and the package includes meals and accommodation as well as weekend passes to Bundaleer.
More information on the weekend is available on www.bundaleerweekend.com.au
Cost $695.00 per person (double/twin share) including two nights accommodation & weekend tickets to all events

Have the Wallabies deliver your Easter eggs!
April 9 – 13 Easter Weekend
Spend a relaxing four days at Penneshaw on Kangaroo Island. Enjoy our happy band of Tamar Wallabies that graze a few feet from the expansive front deck. They often join you for a drink on the deck! The famous Easter Art show will be on in the local hall and you can enjoy Sue Pearson’s extravagant fish and chips at her little shop called Fish!
Four day self contained package
Cost $ 825.00 for up to six guests

Clare Valley Gourmet Weekend
May 1 – 3
The Clare Valley Gourmet weekend is an institution in the calendar of the wine industry. The two day program brings great food and the world renowned Clare Valley wines together. Meet the wine makers and try the latest vintages. Special tastings and tutorials are available to the truly serious connoisseurs.
Two night accommodation package including breakfast and dinners
Cost from $590.00 per person

June long weekend
June 5 – 8
Choose either a three night break in the Clare Valley or on Kangaroo Island. The days will be crisp in Clare Valley and the last of the autumn leaves will be dropping from the grape vines, but Thorn Park by the vine’s huge central fire place will ensure you are snug and warm. Winter on the island is mild and Thorn Park on the island has been designed to catch all the winter sun.
Three night packages at both properties
Cost from $795.00 per person for Thorn Park by the vines including dinners
Cost $595.00 for self contained accommodation at Thorn park on the island

left – just waiting for hands on cooking classes and the heart of Thorn Park by the vines the kitchen.

Intimate Cooking Schools at Thorn Park by the vines
We will be offering a range of cooking schools at Thorn Park by the vines. Initially they will be available for groups of two to four house guests staying for two nights. The classes will be hands on in the stunning new kitchen with views over the gum studded property. David will devise a program based on his love of fresh ingredients and quality produce. The classes will be done over several days and include both formal and casual menus. He will also draw in his and Michael’s travels to Europe, Turkey and Asia and the influence that these countries have had on his cooking style. The cost of these classes will be an additional $150.00 per person to the two day accommodation package. Wines will also be included with some meals during the cooking schools. Phone or email David, on 8843 4304, to discuss your own private cooking school.




Top – the Albergo Agli Alboretti
Bottom – David on the day of his big birthday!

Aging in Venice!
The boy’s travels took them to Venice for four days – it was David’s second trip and Michael’s third to this amazing watery city. It also included the day that David turned 55! During their travels David kept up an ongoing email diary and we thought we should share some of the eating and drinking in Venice!

… …I could not help but get all tingly as we walked out of the railway station in Venice, just seeing the Grand Canal makes one want to weep. We then jumped on a vaporetto (water bus) then headed for our Albergo right next to the Academia Gallery in the Dorsoduro area, a more residential area of Venice. We had dined at the Albergo Agli Alboretti 10 years ago, and I had kept the business card hoping we would come back one day and stay there as well as dine there. We have a tiny room, with the smallest bathroom but it’s heaven on a stick. I’m probably a few sizes too big for the bathroom, and the only way to shower is to lay in the bath tub with the hand held shower – trouble is, the tub is only 4 feet long, the visuals are not good!
The city is crowded, very crowded, and there are 6 large multi–storied ships in dock, so the white shoed brigade is in town! We did not expect quite that many around, as last time we were here in July and we thought that was high season! Thankfully we have seen the big ticket sites a few times, so we do not need to line up for hours at St Marks square. As is our want, we had lunch just after we arrived (well it was lunch time!) and both downed a bowl of superb risotto – terra mare – soil and sea; – it was porcini mushroom and scampi, moist, earthy and fishy!! We then started walking and as it was the Venice Biennale there was plenty to see. The theme is on architecture and the first exhibit was at the Venice Institute for Arts and Science and Letters housed in one of the most beautiful palazzos on the Grand Canal right next to the Academia bridge – it was on Utzon, the guy who designed the Opera House in Sydney. Utzon’s designs and theories were simply stunning, an amazing man, and we have been totally sold out by the NSW government about his true talent.
Dinner that night was at ’Ristoteca Onlga’ – this was an eatery with items of food for sale hence the play on ’Ristoranti’ and ’enoteca’. Some gently braised Sempli (cuttlefish) in its own ink with a very smooth white polenta and himself had a tuna number – risotto cooked with tuna, peach and a little ginger – may sound like we are eating only risotto but Venice does it so well. We also had yet another divine insalata. read more

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Next day we took a boat out to the outer islands of the lagoon, which was interesting on two fronts – they are much closer than I thought and very haunting to see them from the boat. We disembarked at Burano, the lace making and fishing island and every house is painted a different colour and many are very bright, it could possibly work in San Francisco, but I very much doubt that it would work any where else. The island was fairly busy and at first I felt like an intruder (Michael had no such problems, photographing any inner court yards he could find plus the colour coded laundry hanging from the first floor – the cyclamen pink house did a very good job of matching their laundry to the colour scheme!), I did get over my reticence once I discovered all the ’shops’ selling lace and ’mementoes’ of the island – they love tourists and they live to sell to them! Food was also plentiful but we found a very nice little trattoria called ’Gatto Nero’ – black cat, but thankfully he was not on the menu. We downed a bottle of S. Cristina a very nice little white from Lake Garda. Being the island of fishing, we both went for a Risotto alla Buranella – fish of the lagoon. It is a tiny fish that has returned to the lagoons now they have all been tidied up and the effluent has been sent elsewhere (all of the canals in Venice are looking beautiful and very very clean). The dish was lightly fishy, moist and had baby shrimps mixed through it as well. With stunning bread and a little insalata verde life was heaven on a stick.!!
We then glided back into Venice via Murano, we spent 30 minutes on that island before I fled back to the boat – just toooooooo much bad glass on one island – I love good Murano Glass, BUT en mass it’s like a very bad dream, Michael was also sternly told off for photographing some of the ’better’ pieces. We floated past the cemetery island, without making any deposits, and then back to Venice. We disembarked near the Jesuit church. Well those boys at Sevenhill had better get their finger out, this one was way over the top – every wall was covered with an inlay of a thin layer of white and green marble forming a damask like wall covering. Then the floor was a similar combination of colours and to top if off, they had draped the wall–mounted pulpit in a ’curtain’ of marble. We then checked out a few flats for sale and found nothing to our taste and finally made it back to the Albergo to rest before diner!

We had dinner at the Albergo and as mentioned, we had dined there 10 years ago and our memory was of a very special night. Sadly it was too cool to dine in the garden, but the dining room was also ok. The food was to (almost) die for, and we met the owner (Anna) again after 10 years and after lots of hugging and kissing got down to the serious food bit. We restrained our selves to only two courses – for me, prawns with a little Colonnata lard, with salad of the smallest asparagus with lemon and liquorice – I almost swooned; and followed it with duck breast with grapes and wine glaze, while Him on the other side of the table went ape over scallops with lime, vermouth and walnuts and then a little bunny number stuffed with dates, chardonnay & walnuts. Wines from both the Veneto region and the Alps near the French Swiss border helped us cope with the food. More hugs and much hand shaking with the waiter, the assistant waiter, the chef, who appeared with his private guest book, and lots of signing with more hand shaking and kissing. Then we floated up to bed and slept like any over fed persons would!
Sadly I awoke to find my self 55 – how did that happen! Not even a hit of a hangover to make me feel better. We did a little more site seeing in the morning before donning our ’bestest’ clothing and then off to La Fenice for the opera at 3pm. This is the Venice opera house, Michael had been there in the early eighties, before it sadly burnt down 12 years ago, so, on our last trip all I could do was to visit the ashes. The only show going for my birthday was Boris Goudinov, by Mussorgsky. Sung in Russian with Italian surtitles! We booked a box, but in the second row of the box and we had two very Venetian matriarchs sitting in front of us, be–jewelled and having the odd little chat during the show, but other than that were quite nice. Like most operas the story was crap, with lots of ’woe is me’ and ’save me from myself’ etc etc, but even with the libretto in Italian and an English synopsis, we still were left a little mystified with the three birds and the three large eggs that they laid, and the excessive amount of dusting being done on stage by one of the singers. The opera house is small and has about 3 tons of gold leaf spread over 300 tons of plaster gargoyles and cupids, and god only knows how many frescos and gilt light fittings, but we loved it and all the associated glitz.
We high kicked it back to the hotel, and with great restraint we decided not to dine at either the Cipriani or the Gritti Palace Hotel, which would have meant taking out yet another mortgage, and dined again at the hotel. More hugs, kisses and back slapping later, we ate yet more risotto – him melon and prawn, me duck and amarone; and then he had the duck I had the night before (well not my duck, but a new one) and I did a gilt headed seabass and we let the wine waiter select wines for us. Then we had dolce – dessert – a duo of chocolate mousse, very dark and bitter grand cru with an orange (I mean the colour was orange) mousse and washed down with a 2001 Malvasia dessert wine from the island of Salina where we’d stayed in 2003. It does not get much better. Anna presented me with a 13 metre (folding) photo on the Grand Canal (fortunately only one side if it) and the chef gave me a kilo of his special risotto rice – the luggage is getting heavier, along with us!

All text and recipes copyright © Thorn Park 2009 and all images copyright © Thorn Park 2009 and Ann Oliver 2009
The Thorn Park web site is designed and maintained by Ann Oliver — www.annoliver.com and www.galaxyguides.com
Logo and collateral design Lyn Mitchell, Lyn Mitchell Design — www.lynmitchelldesign.com.au