150 Years in the Southern Highlands: Convicts, bushrangers, heroes and squatters

VICE-REGAL SUMMER BOLT-HOLE – THAT'S COOL

David Ellis

WHILE bushranger Ben Hall and his lot were getting travellers to throw up their arms and part with their possessions on the roads of the Southern Highlands of NSW back in the 1860s, more law-abiding citizens were throwing up inns, grand mansions and public edifices that would remain a legacy for generations to this day.

And with the towns of Bowral and Moss Vale this year celebrating 150 years of their founding, visitors are flocking to these Southern Highlands, just 1.5hr by freeway south of Sydney, to soak-up a vibrant history and architecture that can be found at virtually every turn.

And to view public gardens and private half-hectare blocks planted to flaunt stunning seasonal flamboyances.

The first ex-convicts-cum-explorers here in the late 1780s recorded the potential for bountiful settlement… and Europeans' first-ever sightings of koalas, lyrebirds and waratahs.

John Oxley and Dr Charles Throsby soon followed – Throsby carving the Old South Road from Picton and being given a 1000 acre (400ha) land grant by Governor Macquarie.

Here he established the settlement of Bong Bong in 1817 alongside the Wingecarribee River between today's Bowral and Moss Vale, but regular floods forced its move further inland in 1831 to what's now Berrima.

The original 27-room Throsby homestead, cottage and stables still stand today, managed by the Historic Houses Trust; the Highlands' first church, Christ Church circa-1845 also still serves there today, having originally been Throsby's family chapel.

In 1868 then-Governor, the Earl of Belmore leased Throsby homestead to escape Old Sydney Town's oppressive (for newly-arrived British) summer heat, establishing a precedent that was followed more grandly in the early 1880s by Governor Lord Augustus Loftus: he had a vast mansion, Hillview at Sutton Forest, purchased purely as a cooler-climate escape that hosted every State Governor until 1957.

Staff included 35 butlers, cooks, kitchen- and stable-hands, and full-time Chinese gardeners – with a Vice-Regal suite built at Moss Vale Railway Station for Their  Excellencies' entourages to await in luxury their trains back to Sydney.

Hillview has been privately restored at a cost of $2m and is today a palatial refuge for discerning holidaymakers.

Throsby also in 1864 subdivided part of his landholdings, naming it Moss Vale after loyal Irish convict-cum-servant at Throsby Park, Jemmy Moss – and giving Jemmy occupancy for life of the land on which he lived with his wife in a bark hut.

Governor Macquarie also gave 2500 acres (1000ha) to explorer Oxley whose sons Henry and John raised sheep and cattle on what was to eventually become Bowral, and with the Old South Road soon being by-passed in favour of the new road further inland to Berrima, the town of Mittagong also emerged.

George Cutter who built the Highlands' first inn, the Kangaroo on the Old South Road in 1827, closed it with the demise of the road, and operated a second Kangaroo Inn in Mittagong from 1834; it traded under different owners and names until 1866, and is today Minnikin Lodge, an art gallery and annual Christmas Shop – with sandstone walls 54cm (21ins) thick.

Other inns and hotels included the 1834 Surveyor General Inn at Berrima that's still trading today in this last, largely-intact Georgian village in Australia, the short-lived Argyle at ill-fated Bong Bong, and nearby the circa-1854 Royal Oak that's now The Briars between Moss Vale and Bowral.

The Prince Albert Hotel at Braemar just north of Mittagong has had a chequered career since opening in 1845, now restored as the Prince Albert Inn motel.

Bowral's first hotel, the Wingecarribee Inn opened on Bong Bong Street in 1862 where the Royal Hotel now is, and the second, the circa-1887 Grand Hotel, also on Bong Bong Street is still trading today.

As the Highlands' popularity increased amongst Sydney's gentry, they established large English-style mansions amid rambling English-like gardens, reminiscent of home, in Bowral, Moss Vale and Mittagong, and numerous small villages and hamlets around them.

20^th century residents included Sir Donald Bradman with an oval, museum and Cricket Hall of Honour named after him in Bowral, and Helen Lyndon Goff – who using the name PL Travers, wrote Mary Poppins in Bowral in 1910.

For details of Bowral and Moss Vale's 150^th anniversary celebrations and all properties in this article, contact Tourism Southern Highlands 02 4871 2888 or www.southern-highlands.com.au

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PHOTO CAPTIONS:

[] RETREAT for Vice-Regals from 1868 to 1957 – when it all got too hot in Sydney.

   (Hillview Historic Mansion)

[] BOWRAL (unknown date) before motor car was king. (Berrima Historical Society)

[] LETTING off steam – train and passengers alike – at Moss Vale Railway Station.

   (Berrima Historical Society)

[] MINNIKIN Lodge Mittagong built as the second Kangaroo Inn 1827 – walls 54cm

   thick. (Sandra Arrell)

[] AUTUMN leaves: the Southern Highlands stun with seasonal flamboyancies.

  (Southern Highlands Corporate Events)

[] CHRIST Church Moss Vale: first church in the Southern Highlands and still

   serving today. (Organ Historic Trust Australia)

[] PIONEER explorer, settler and visionary: Dr Charles Throsby. (Tourism Southern

   Highlands)       

Holiday with celebrity chef in an Asian paradise

Variety's upcoming Vietnam Culinary Tour from October 12th to 20th is a one-of-a kind holiday adventure set to tantalise the senses like no other! Hosted by celebrity chef, Marion Grasby, the experience promises to be an unforgettable trip of a lifetime.

Celebrity chef and cookbook author, Marion is getting set to pack her bags for this once in a lifetime 'foodies delight' tour of Vietnamese landscape and culture and share her own culinary tips and ideas on local cuisine during hands-on cooking classes and demonstrations, led by well-renowned local Chefs.  Feast on the magnificent and highly varied local cuisine in an array of stand out locations and restaurants, while learning all about the country's rich food heritage. From the vibrant centre of food haven Hanoi to the deep valleys of Mai Chau for a school community project, travellers will be immersed in all the wonderful rich culture Vietnam has to offer.

Marion is no stranger to travel having been raised by globe trotting parents and lived in exotic locations including Papua New Guinea, Thailand and Darwin; providing an abundance of inspiring ingredients for spicy papaya salads and sweet, sticky mango dishes. Marion's Thai mother also gave her a wealth of knowledge and an appreciation of Asian food from a young age.

"This will be a very special food tour because not only will we be seeing and tasting some amazing things but we'll also be helping to make a difference to children with special needs," said Marion.

A key hands-on highlight of the tour will be cooking classes with Madam Anh Tuyet, who is highly regarded as Hanoi's best chef. Visiting the local market, travellers will learn all about Vietnamese ingredients and herbs before returning to her kitchen, where Madam Anh Tuyet will demonstrate how to cook traditional dishes before serving them up as a tantalising lunch menu in her esteemed restaurant.

At the Hoa Sua Vocational Training School where disadvantaged youth learn hospitality and educational skills to equip them with the tools required to provide for themselves, reminiscent of "Jamie's Kitchen", travellers will be taught by the school's teachers to cook delectable delicacies such as lotus root and shrimp salad, fresh spring rolls with shrimp and pork, char grilled pork balls with rice noodle and sweetened lotus seed doughnuts.

Other food experiences set to showcase the country's rich culture include dining at the 400 year old Dinh Bang Communal House and Mau Dich Restaurant, as well as visiting the empowering Muong Culture Space, Temple of Literature and Do Temple.

The ultimate kitchen activity, however, will be on the final two days of the tour when the group will help to build a kitchen for a remote Vietnamese kindergarten. This community kitchen will stand as a permanent reminder of the nine unforgettable days for the travellers and of course, the local children who will benefit from it for years to come.

The cost for this all encompassing Vietnamese adventure is from $3,250 (dependant on reaching maximum group size), which includes return economy international flights from Sydney to Hanoi with airport transfers, excursions, meals and accommodation. In addition, Travellers have a minimum fundraising goal of $3,000 which will be used to purchase a Sunshine Coach for a school in Dubbo (rural NSW) which supports 265 students, 67% of which are aboriginal and 26 have special needs. The Sunshine Coach will be used to transport children to school (ensuring they attend) and to extra-curricular activities that they would otherwise miss out on.

For further information and bookings please visit www.varietyadventure.com.au or contact Lucy Rae on 9819 1014

ABOUT VARIETY

Variety-the Children's Charity is a national not-for-profit organisation committed to empowering Australian children who are sick, disadvantaged or have special needs to live, laugh & learn. By giving practical equipment, programs & experiences, Variety helps children in need to overcome whatever obstacles they face & live life to the fullest.

Today, Variety Australia delivers around $1 million in individual and organisational equipment grants every month, filling the gaps often left by governments and other organisations. Variety is often an appellant's last resort to secure equipment vital to their children's wellbeing.

About Marion:

Marion is a little bit Thai (courtesy of her Mum) and a little bit Australian (courtesy of her Dad). Her love of food and travel became ingrained at an early age as her globe-trotting parents lived and travelled in Papua New Guinea, Thailand and Australia.

Marion counts her successful meal solution range, Marion's Kitchen as one of her biggest achievements to date. Last year she launched her cookbook 'Marion: Recipes and Stories from a Hungry Cook' and continues to source her recipes from all over the world.

Elba: Napoleon’s mark on his isle of exile.

David Ellis

NAPOLEON could certainly have done a lot worse than being exiled to the little Mediterranean island of Elba in 1814 in punishment for his surprising loss in the war with Russia, which he'd sought to add to his already many other conquests across Europe.

Because not only was here on Elba a place of exquisite natural beauty laying in the sunny Tuscan Archipelago off Italy, but the allied Sixth Coalition that had forced the Emperor's banishment allowed him to take a thousand or so faithful troops and other followers with him – and extraordinarily bestowed upon him sovereignty to run the place.

But while he stated publicly that Elba was "where he would be happy to rest," and where he threw himself into building new schools and hospitals, improving road networks and encouraging the arts, he was also quietly plotting his escape… successfully doing so just ten months after setting foot on the island.

And he did it remarkably easily: one evening when the British Navy's "guard ships" that were based in the island's Portoferraio harbour were conveniently away elsewhere, Napoleon – a hero to most of the locals – and his men simply hopped aboard a few vessels put at their disposal, and sailed 280km across to land near Cannes in France.

Today just 31,000 permanent residents live a laid-back lifestyle on dreamy little Elba, somehow putting up with an extraordinary 4-million visitors who annually invade the place between March and October, tourism now being the most important industry after the open-cut iron ore mines were closed in 1982 because of their spreading disfigurement of the picturesque landscape.

We recently spent a captivating day on Elba during a Mediterranean cruise, taking a tour there with a proverbial "walking encyclopaedia" guide from Italian sightseeing specialist DDP-Incentive: she had a yarn to spin about everything from Napoleon's time on the island to the wine, the culture and the honey industry whose bees thrive on wild rosemary and lavender… and the blossoms of Australian eucalypts that were imported to manufacture medicines and, she said, "are simply nice to breathe."

Amongst places we visited was the historic Tenuta La Chiusa Winery that's both a winery and a collection of holiday cottages right on the beach in Portoferraio, and which dates back to the 1700s – and where, today's owners proudly say, Napoleon chose to stay on a couple of occasions.

A specialty wine here is Aleatico, a rich, sweet, dessert red that as well as being heartily tossed down by the glass is also tossed with gusto into another favourite called Schiaccia Briaca – the locals' appropriately-named "drunken cake." And yes, our guide assured us, Aleatico was a favourite of Napoleon, who would drink a glass with breakfast every day. Yeah, well…

(She revealed her grandmother swore by the wine too, also quaffing a glass a day. "She said it was for her health's sake, and Grandma lived to 100 years, one month and ten days.")

Elba is most-famous, however, for its beaches, including two that remarkably are reserved for dogs. Humans don't swim at these unless taking their pets into the water, and inspectors regularly check that canine patrons have a Pet Passport certifying they've been micro-chipped and appropriately vaccinated. And after their ocean frolics, the happy pooches can rinse-off under their own little doggy-height showers…

Our guide also pointed out the tiny off-shore island of Monte Cristo – yes, the one made famous by Alexandre Dumas in his 19th century The Count of Monte Cristo. But if you want to visit there, register now: only 1000 visitors are allowed on this now-national park annually, and waiting-time is three years.

Elba still exports vast amounts of roof and floor tiles made from the local clay, but it is its beaches, restaurants, bars and museums – and its connections with Napoleon it's best-known for: just about every major building seems to have some link with the man, and while he lived in an apartment in the local Town Hall, there are also six or eight houses that the locals claim he also occupied at some stage of his just-300 days on Elba...

(IF you're visiting Elba, Rome-based DDP Incentive Management specialises in sightseeing, tailor-made tours and airport, hotel, ship, and other transfers there and across most of Italy; go to www.ddpincentive.it) 

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PHOTO CAPTIONS:

[] ONE of several villas Napoleon supposedly occupied during his short time on Elba.

[] TENUTA La Chiusa winery dates back to the 1700s.

[] PICTURESQUE Portoferraio: 4m visitors come here every year.

[] A QUIET beach out of the tourist season.

[] HISTORIC painting of Napoleon's escape from Elba.

[] DOGGY beach: Elba has two reserved for canines that even have their own showers.

(Photo credits in order: Niels Buus Madsen FlickR; Tenuta La Chiusa; Understanding Italy; Wikipedia; Understanding Italy; Tuscany Tourism.)        

Struth! Heart Attack Grill claims another customer

 

IN his continuing search for the more weird, wacky and wondrous in the world of travel, David Ellis says that for two years John Alleman has stood outside the Heart Attack Grill in Las Vegas spruiking its famous calorie-laden hamburgers, and exhorting passers-by to come in and try.

Burgers that included the 1.444kg (3lb 3oz) Quadruple Bypass which the Guinness Book of Records recognises as the world's most calorie-laden with 9,982 calories per burger… and, which John constantly enthused with four layers of beef pattie, bacon, cheese, tomato and onion, "has a taste worth dying for."

Last week after a hard day's spruiking at the Heart Attack Grill, 52 years old John bade diners farewell, walked down to the nearby bus stop – and dropped dead.

Of a heart attack.

John Alleman was the Heart Attack Grill's second spruiker to pass away: the first, Blair River scaled-in at a whopping  260kg (that's a quarter of a tonne) and died in early 2011 of pneumonia. And the Las Vegas Sun reported that last year a male customer and a female customer had separately both reported to a local hospital after "being stricken with what were believed to be heart problems while eating Triple and Double Bypass Burgers."

And maybe the Grill's fries too, which are cooked in pure lard.

The Heart Attack Grill's owner has described John Alleman's death as "a wake-up call," and said he would be greatly missed. "He lived a very full life, and ate and breathed the Heart Attack Grill."  But no, the calorie-laden burgers would not be taken off the menu, he said, "while ever the public has an appetite for them."

                                                

 

Struth! Stampede for Icy Fried Coke

 
IN his continuing search for the more weird, wacky and wondrous in the world of travel, David Ellis says the Canadian city of Calgary that holds its annual 10-day Stampede every July, should add "Cooking Oil Capital of the World" to its title.

Because here just about anything that you can eat or drink is also available deep-fried: and not just main courses like that usual old chicken, fish, battered savs and fries, but hamburgers too.

Plus all forms of confectionery, desserts… and Coca Cola. Yes, Deep Fried Coke is a specialty of dozens of stall holders at the Stampede: the Coke is mixed into a batter made of flour, baking powder, sugar and eggs, rolled into balls, deep fried and served in large milk-shake containers – and if that's not sufficiently sweet and calorie-laden enough for your liking, this deep fried Coke is then sprinkled with powdered sugar, doused with cola syrup and topped with a garnish of whipped cream.

M&Ms, jelly beans, Mars Bars, Oreos and Wagon Wheels all get similar batter and deep-fry treatment – and for dessert you can go for cheesecake that's sliced and cocooned in spring roll wrappers and deep fried.

Anything but ruffled – that’s the Feathers Hotel.

David Ellis

BOOK into The Feathers hotel in the historic little English market town of Woodstock, and you'll find Reception's in a building that dates back to the 1600s, was a draper's shop for the first half of the 20th century, and then a butcher's.

And not any butcher: this chap made somewhat of a name for himself when he roasted a whole ox just up the road in the grounds of Blenheim Palace during celebrations there for the 1953 coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

And after unpacking in your room that's in an even older part of the hotel, take yourself to the quiet of the Study to read or nap – and discover you're sitting in what was a sanatorium 300 years ago for those struck down with tuberculosis.

And when it's time for dinner, it'll be in the equally fascinating dining room, created within part of several more centuries-old village cottages that were all slowly bought-up and cobbled together into today's colourful and eclectic Feathers Hotel. (And which explains why no two of the 16 bedrooms and 5 suites are the same.)

Finally, enjoy a nightcap in the Gin Bar that the Guinness Book of Records recognises as having the world's most different-label gins. And which explains why a sign says: "We provide assistance to your room if required."

The Feathers, one quickly comes to appreciate, is all about history – as is Woodstock it's very self, the Domesday Book recording that what is now the town was a Royal Forest for hunting and timber-gathering as early as 1086.

And it's also known that King Henry I later had a menagerie for his personal amusement within the forest, while his grandson Henry II courted his mistress Rosamund Clifford (the "Fair Rosamund") there in the 1160s – and in more serious mood, in 1179 conferred a Royal Charter on the now-emerging little Woodstock.

We first became acquainted with The Feathers some 20 years back when respected hotelier, Mr Gordon Campbell-Grey bought the property, then known as The Dorchester, and set about putting it on the map as a country retreat to stay and dine splendidly in equally splendid surroundings.

He spent a small fortune on restoring The Dorchester, and with his love of food and a hobby of collecting stuffed birds, re-named it The Feathers.

Just over 100km north of London's CBD on the outskirts of Oxford, The Feathers is an easy place to get to for a memorable lunch, but better still is to opt for a night or two there to enjoy the property and the dining, and to take-in the many local highlights: Oxford, Blenheim Palace where Sir Winston Churchill was born in 1874, the Cotswold Wildlife Park, Warwick Castle, and not least, Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild's extraordinary Waddesdon Manor that took six years to build between 1877 and 1883 and which now attracts 300,000 visitors a year to its spectacular gardens, priceless art collections, aviary and woodland playground.

We called into The Feathers for a nostalgic lunch during a visit to Britain and Wales last October, opting to self-drive rather than take the train from London: after overnighting at a Heathrow Airport hotel we collected a Vauxhall Zafira from the airport agency, left Heathrow at 9.30am and after a stop at tiny Bladon to see the graves of Sir Winston Churchill and many of his family, were at The Feathers in time for a leisurely 2.5hr lunch.

The roomy Zafira booked here through DriveAway Holidays cost just $357 for 5-days, including insurances, unlimited kilometres and 24hr roadside service.

As it was those many years ago on our first visit, the anguish at lunch was decisions, decisions when presented with the British/Continental menu: five mouth-watering entrees, a half dozen mains and as many desserts… plus a choice of British and French cheeses, fruit bread, biscuits and chutneys to finish.

Then to the Gin Bar: here there are no fewer than 161 different labels from every gin-producing country in the world – and the opportunity to sip on the world's most expensive G&T: a Monkey 47 Gin from Holland with Q Tonic Water from the USA costing GBP22.75 (AU$35 at time of our visit.)

For more information about The Feathers: www.thefeathers.co.uk ; DriveAway Holidays www.driveaway.com.au or phone 1300 723 972.

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PHOTO CAPTIONS:

[] THE Feathers: parts date back to the 1600s. (Photo: The Feathers)

[] A COBBLED collection of shops and village houses means no two bedrooms are the

   same. (Photo: The Feathers)

[] CHEERS: Bar Manager, Nuno Oliveira offers the world's most expensive G&T from

   world-record most number of different-label gins. (Photo: David Ellis)

[] BLENHEIM Palace and birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill and just up the road from

   The Feathers. (Photo: Wikimedia)

[] WADDESDON Manor – another neighbour that took six years to build. (Photo: Wikimedia)

NSW HIGHLANDS’ ALL HISTORY AND HERITAGE

David Ellis


WITH this the 150th year since Bowral and Moss Vale were founded side-by-side in the NSW Southern Highlands in 1863, the folk there reckon they've plenty to celebrate.

And they're doing it with twelve months of festivities commemorating memorable Highlands' "firsts," and of tales of convicts, characters and explorers, the more nefarious like bushranger Ben Hall, and of Lucretia Dunkley the only woman ever hanged in Berrima Gaol.

And of Don Bradman – and even Mary Poppins.

Today and next week we'll share some of these tales with you, as well as highlights of this year's celebrations in a region that began life as cattle-country and a summer retreat for the elite of old Sydney Town to their cool mountains' mansions amid vast home-country English-style gardens – with even the State Governor having a summer bastion here.

And of how the Highlands, at 690m above sea-level yet just 1.5hrs drive south of Sydney, at every turn brings with them another post-card-pretty small town, village or hamlet connected to the past.

How many know that in January 1798 ex-convict-cum-explorer John Wilson led two other explorers into the now-Southern Highlands, one of them, John Price recording in his diary the first sighting and description by white man both of a koala and a lyrebird? His diary, given to Sir Joseph Banks, is now in the Mitchell Library.

Or that it was in the Southern Highlands that Europeans first recorded flowering Waratahs – and that in the underground car-park of Woolworth's Highland Marketplace at Mittagong, you can see remains of the first smelting plant in Australia, the Fitzroy Iron Works named after then-Governor Sir Charles Fitzroy?

When these remains were found during ground preparations in 2005, Woolworth re-designed the complex around them so what little was left of the 1840's rolling mills, furnaces, boilers and chimney bases could forever remain on public view.

And next to the Mittagong RSL Club see where residents in the 1800s drew from a spring whose health-giving mineral waters were also fed into an adjacent bathhouse; that bathhouse has long since gone, but the spring still flows today.

Sir Charles Fitzroy also gave his name to the Fitzroy Inn in Mittagong; Australia's first lawn tennis court was installed here in 1875 when it was temporarily a school, and today it's a hostelry again with its tennis court having an artificial surface. In-house guests can also marvel in the cellar here at "Australia's finest example of a convict-era kitchen," complete with the water-well dug in the middle of the floor when the Inn was built in 1835.

And a cell in the Inn still has iron shackles and bars on the walls that harshly detained convicts while their guards slept comfortably overnight upstairs on the way by coach to the new Berrima Gaol – where Australia's first trial by all-civilian jury was held in 1841.

Opposite that now-closed Gaol is the Surveyor General Inn built by freed convict couple William Harper and Margaret Morgan in 1834, run by their son James and today the oldest continuously-licenced inn in Australia; up the road James and wife Mary's fine circa-1834 Georgian-style mansion and garden maze is now owned by the National Trust and open weekends and public holidays.

Lucretia Dunkley was the only woman ever hanged in Berrima Gaol, alongside her young lover Martin Beech in 1843 for the gruesome axe murder of her sleeping husband who was 20 years her senior. A witnessing reporter wrote: "Both prisoners exhibited apathy upon the scaffold and died as they had lived, hardened and unrepentant."

Take the original Old South Road into the Southern Highlands and you'll pass historic Mittagong Aerodrome built in 1944 to bolster air defences of Wollongong and Port Kembla's steelworks; it's now leased by the Berrima District Aero Club, and as you drive south past it, opposite is the site of George Cutter's (or possibly Cutler's) circa-1827 Kangaroo Inn and windmill-driven flour mill – the first inn in the Southern Highlands.

Cutter sold the 789ha site to explorer Captain Charles Sturt in 1835 as a private residence after the Old South Road became obsolete.

A William Bradley built a second Kangaroo Inn in Mittagong in the 1830s – and leased it to George Cutter.

(Next week: more tales of the Southern Highlands and this year's 150th anniversary celebrations.)

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PHOTO CAPTIONS:



[] BOWRAL's main street in the days of horse and cart. (Berrima Historical Society)

[] THE railway comes to Moss Vale in the 1860s. (Berrima Historical Society)

[] SPECTACULAR NSW Southern Highlands Autumn colours. (Tourism Southern Highlands)

[] HIDDEN surprises: Fitzroy Falls in the Highlands Morton National Park. (EnvironmentNSW)

Struth! New life in the old oak

IN his continuing search for the more weird, wacky and wondrous in the world of travel, David Ellis says that in France, a forward-thinking winery has planted a thousand oak trees to be used for making barrels to store its wines that won't be made for around a near-200 years.

And not any ordinary oak trees: they've been propagated from acorns dropped by one of the most revered trees in French history – a mighty over-size specimen that itself rose from a tiny acorn at Bourges in the Sancerre wine-growing region in 1560, and was killed by a fatal lightning strike 433 years later in 1993.

According to legend, the Saint-Etienne Oak (The Tree of Life) gave inspiration to the ministers of French King Henri IV who would gather under its vast branches in search of intellectual enlightenment, while King Charles VII was also known to have taken his 20-year old mistress Agnes Sorel (dubbed the Dame de beauté) there for different forms of enlightenment.

Reaching 37m into the air and with a girth of 6m, the dead oak stood forlorn until 1995 when revered local winery, Henry Bourgeois had it cut down to make staves for barrels to store the company's legendary Sancerre wines from the 2000 to 2003 vintages.

At the same time, botanists gathered acorns dropped by the historic Saint-Etienne oak, with 1,000 of the healthiest raised in a nursery and now being planted out as a man-made forest. Of these, over 900 will be harvested for making wine barrels for Henry Bourgeois wines 100 years from now, and forty of the mightiest kept by deed for a further 90-odd years for making barrels for the wines from the company's 2200 vintage.

For which, unfortunately, none of us will be around to check-out for the result.