Tynwald Estate

It's always good exploring your own backyard, and deciding to do so my partner and I went on a weekend adventure to Tynwald Estate located in the picturesque upper Derwent Valley.  Tynwald is a grand colonial building of the 1830s and has been impressively restored and maintained since then.  It offers B&B style accommodation with various rooms presenting in a mish-mash of colonial style decor and early 20th century antiques that will transport you back in time.  The 'Lachlan' room, in which we stayed, had its own en suite and was fitted out in a light green floral motif, invoking a sense of theatrical quality fit for an Agatha Christie 'Miss Marple'.  The establishment is run by a lovely couple who do all the work by themselves.  They are very friendly providing a warm welcome when you arrive and are more than happy to provide you with what you need.  An added bonus is that they are both qualified chefs, and provide excellent fare which is served in the intimate dining space in one of the front rooms.

The food combined contemporary and traditional flare with the flavours literally bursting in your mouth, exquisitely showing off what can be achieved with our local produce.  We started with a taster plate, comprising of smoked salmon rosettes and house made caraway lavosh and Cwikla, duck liver pate with fresh red currants, spicy harissa, sweet potato and chickpea salad, and pork rillettes served with slivers of polski orgorki.  For mains I had pork fillet, generously dressed in a rich creamy mushroom sauce, served with goats cheese souffle and fresh garden vegetables of green and butter beans, potato and dutch carrot.  My partner had a Chinese inspired cinnamon and orange marinated roast duck breast which was served on lightly steamed wong buk , bean sprouts and snow peas with a spicy plum sauce.  Both meals were outstanding, although I did find my sauce a little rich and the size of the meal quite large, but very enjoyable over all.  Due to the size of our meals we decided to opt out of dessert and go straight for coffee and petit fours.

The next day breakfast was served in the decoratively country style kitchen quarters with continental provisions of toast, home made preserves, yoghurt, and muesli with freshly grated apple.  There was also opportunity for a cooked breakfast for those seeking a getaway fry-up.  The coffee is excellent, strong and pungent and I was very impressed with the preserved fruits and jams.  If you are looking for something a bit different, are relaxed about character and impressed with originality I would recommend Tynwald, whether you stay for a night or just choose to dine, you will be pleasantly surprised and much appreciative of the efforts these two put into your experience.

Check out their site:

http://www.tynwaldtasmania.com/




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