Hillsview Estate
About
Overview & Vibe
One of the district's original working farms, 400 metres out of Auburn at the southern gateway to the Clare Valley — twenty minutes south of Clare and 109 km north of Adelaide. The estate holds nine stone structures: the main house, a cellar, two self-contained bed-and-breakfast cottages, and the one that does the work — an extraordinary stone barn built around 1890, restored over years and fronted by a covered stone veranda.
Setting & Style
Rustic in the original sense: stone walls, exposed timber trusses, corrugated roof, festoon lights and paper lanterns strung the length of long trestle tables. The estate garden runs out to views over the rolling hills and paddocks of the wine region, and the veranda opens onto it. The venue's own photographs show the barn draped in white with fairy lights, the veranda set with long tables under lanterns and bunting, and the stone buildings across the lawn between clipped hedges and cast-iron urns.
Ideal For
Couples wanting a large country barn wedding with the catering handled in-house by people who have been doing it since 2004 — and who want the option of a genuinely big cocktail party rather than a capped sit-down.
The Need-to-Knows
- This is the largest published capacity in the Clare Valley. The Barn takes 200 seated or up to 380 cocktail, and the veranda seats another 100. Note the estate's own pages differ on the covered seating — the weddings page says the veranda seats 100, the catering page says 120 in the front of the Barn — so confirm the layout you want.
- Nothing is priced except the deposit and the cottages. A $500 deposit secures the date; final guest numbers and the balance are due ten days before the event. No menu, package or per-head figure is published.
- Catering is in-house and is the point. Principals Graham Richards and Kim Bleeker have run the estate's events since 2004 and cater roughly 30 weddings a year. A dedicated wedding coordinator and a step-by-step planning guide come with the booking.
- Two cottages sleep on the estate — Hillsview and Pine Grove, both $170 a night per couple, $340 for two nights, $100 for a single. Pine Grove takes a second couple at $160. Stay two nights Tuesday to Thursday and the third is half price, public holidays excepted. Deposit is 50% of the tariff.
- Cottage stays include a cooked breakfast delivered to the door at a time you choose (or self-catering provisions), a cheese and olive platter on arrival, port and chocolates, a barbecue, all linen and board games. Check-in 4pm, out 2pm, both negotiable. No smoking.
- The address is a locality, not a street number. The estate publishes a PO Box and a direction — 400 m from Auburn on the Pt Wakefield–Auburn Road.
Standout Feature
An 1890 stone barn that seats 200 and holds 380 standing, on a farm with nine stone buildings and its own cottages.
Contact
Amenities
- 1890 Stone Barn
- Stone Fronted Covered Veranda
- Nine Stone Structures
- Original District Working Farm
- Estate Garden
- Views Over The Wine Region
- Two Self Contained Cottages
- In House Catering Since 2004
- Dedicated Wedding Coordinator
- Step By Step Planning Guide
- Supplier Recommendations
- Personalised Property Tour
- Cocktail Capacity To 380
- Seated Capacity To 200
- Conferences And Functions
- Cellar
- Cooked Breakfast Delivered To Cottage
- Barbecue Facilities
- Board Games And Reading Material
- Twenty Minutes From Clare
Ceremony Setting
- barn
- garden
- outdoor
- veranda
- lawn
- estate
Dietary Options Supported
Nearby Landmarks
- Auburn – Four hundred metres away, the southern gateway to the Clare Valley
- Clare – Twenty minutes north
- Riesling Trail – The rail trail running the length of the valley from Auburn
- Watervale – Neighbouring wine village north on the Main North Road
- Mintaro – Historic slate village east of Auburn
- Clare Valley wine region – The estate looks out over its hills and paddocks
- Adelaide – 109 kilometres south
On Site Accommodation
- Hillsview Cottage – self-contained B&B, $170 per couple per night
- Pine Grove Cottage – self-contained B&B, $170 per couple, second couple $160
- Cooked breakfast delivered to the cottage, or self-catering provisions
- Cheese and olive platter on arrival, port and chocolates, barbecue, all linen
- Two nights Tuesday to Thursday earns half tariff on the third
- Check-in 4pm, check-out 2pm, both negotiable; 50%% deposit; no smoking
Price Notes
- NO WEDDING PRICING IS PUBLISHED. No menu, package, per-head rate, venue hire fee or minimum spend appears anywhere on the site, and there is no PDF on the domain - every page in the site's own navigation was fetched and grepped for '.pdf' with no result. What IS published is the money that binds you, under a heading the venue calls 'Fine Print': 'A deposit of $500 will be required to secure your booking date. Ten (10) days prior to your event we will require final guest numbers and balance of funds.' A ten-day deadline for final numbers is tighter than most and is the practical constraint.
- CATERING IS IN-HOUSE AND IS THE VENUE'S STATED SPECIALITY, BUT IT IS NOT PRICED. From the weddings page: 'We have a genuine passion for food and wine. Our dedication to quality is without compromise. From the produce itself, to the presentation, our aim is to provide every guest with a memorable experience.' From the catering page: 'Principals of Hillsview Country Estate, Graham Richards and Kim Bleeker, have spent decades in personal service and deliver a truly unique and wonderful experience. Their friendly, dedicated and professional hand picked team deliver customer service and attention to detail... Hillsview Country Estate caters for all events but has become the preferred Wedding venue with some 30 weddings being catered for each year.' No dietary position is stated anywhere on the site, so dietary_options_supported is NULL despite catering being in house.
- THE TWO PAGES DISAGREE ON THE COVERED SEATED CAPACITY - 100 on the weddings page, 120 on the catering page - while agreeing on 200 for the main Barn. See venue_capacity.
- COTTAGE TARIFFS ARE PUBLISHED IN FULL AND ARE THE ONLY RATES ON THE SITE. Hillsview Cottage: '1 night/per couple $170.00. 2 nights/per couple $340.00. Single person/per night $100.00.' Pine Grove Cottage adds '2nd couple/per night $160.00'. Both: 'Check-in time 4pm, book out time 2pm (negotiable). Tuesday through Thursday Stay two nights and enjoy half tariff for the third, except public holidays. Deposit 50% of tariff when booking.' Inclusions for both: 'A fully cooked breakfast brought to your cottage at the time you choose. Alternatively breakfast provisions provided for self catering. Cheese and olive platter on arrival. Port & chocolates. Large range of teas & coffee. Barbecue facilities. Colour TV and CD player. All linen provided. Board games & reading material. No smoking in the cottage.' Pine Grove also has laundry facilities.
- THE ESTATE PUBLISHES NO STREET NUMBER. Every page footer reads 'ph 08 8849 2397 | P.O. Box 115, Auburn SA 5451 | 400m from Auburn on Pt Wakefield-Auburn Rd'. The address recorded is therefore road-and-locality level, taken from the venue's own direction line rather than substituted from a maps lookup - the same treatment as Millon Estate in this region (Batch 152).
- THE VENUE OFFERS SUPPLIER GUIDANCE RATHER THAN A PREFERRED LIST: 'Although you may have your own ideas or arrangements with florists, accommodation, photography, transport, marriage celebrants, event decor, hair and make-up, we can certainly advise you of the styles and services of our regular suppliers.' And on planning: 'Having catered and organised functions, and in particular Weddings, since 2004, we understand every wedding is unique. Your dedicated wedding coordinator will help you through the myriad of questions that will arise for such an important occasion. Every detail is taken care of with our step by step guide to planning your day.'
- A HOSTING NOTE RECORDED FOR FUTURE SWEEPS: the home-page gallery hard-codes seven images to a raw IP address with a cPanel home path - 'http://114.111.155.211/~hillsv/images/...' - over plain HTTP. All seven were verified to resolve at the equivalent https path on the venue's own domain, and the domain URLs are what is stored. The IP host itself timed out on direct request.
Price Per Head
Venue Capacity
- Up to 380
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