DAS HELWIG HAUS B&B
It was in November of 1992 that we purchased these 32 acres at 113 Mt. Stirling Road, Glen Aplin on the Granite Belt - the cool mountain district of southern Queensland. Our aim was to establish a Bed and Breakfast business to provide us with a ‘way of life’ during our older years. Happily, we were successful. On the 3rd July this week my husband, Eberhard, reached 83 years of age. I am now in my 70th year. We have reached the reluctant decision that it is time to sell our business and retire. It is unlikely that I will ever truly retire, as once I no longer have the physical work associated with this business, I’ll be able to give more time to writing and sharing with my readers the knowledge I have gained. Nonetheless as Eberhard is 14 years older than me I am expecting that he will need more full time care in the years ahead.
Eberhard
The photo above of Eberhard was taken last December when his heart failed. He was airlifted to a Brisbane hospital by helicopter where a cardiologist inserted a pacemaker to keep his heart beating. He made an excellent recovery.
I now wish to ask your assistance. I want you to forward this post to everyone in your address book and request that they do the same. That way you will be able to assist me to market this unique business throughout the world. Because it is unique it will require a special person to recognize the potential of what we have begun and therefore continue the project so they may reap the harvest of an outstanding product.
This is not just a 32 acre farm with a flowing river frontage and an irrigation license. There are two farm dams on a secondary water course and grass to fatten cattle. But, it is not just a farm.
Cattle grazing
Das Helwig Haus B&B is recognized as the best 10 bedroom Bed & Breakfast home in Queensland, Australia and has received many accolades and won awards. It was the first Queensland small business to receive the Queensland Multicultural Award.
Eberhard receives the first Queensland Multicultural Award presented to a Small Business.
Many guests return each year to enjoy the quiet location less than a mile from the highway, but situated on the south of Stanthorpe amongst the sixty high altitude wineries of the region. They come in the winter to enjoy the dinners we provide, like Christmas in July, when we serve our own free range goose as the main course. I’m turning weekend business away this winter as Google has placed Das helwig Haus B&B on the first page of its search engine if you type in <Granite Belt B&B> or <Stanthorpe B&B> which is what visitors from Brisbane do when searching for a weekend destination. This SEO placement has also brought us a mid-week booking from a family in France wishing to spend 3 days here next week climbing the mountains of our National Parks.
Bald Rock National Park
What has truly made this property unique is the Remembrance Field which blooms with red Flanders poppies timed to reach their peak for 11th November each year. I’ve always enjoyed gardening and when we moved to this cool mountain district I realized that I would be able to grow many of the trees, shrubs and flowers not commonly grown in tropical and sub-tropical Queensland. For instance, 14 years ago I planted 5 tiny Camellia Japonica bushes and now they have grown into evergreen sentinels fronting our home.
Camellias blooming in winter.
It was my recognition that, if we planted the seed of the red Flanders poppy the first week of July, the poppies would begin flowering by mid-October and bloom for a six week period, reaching their peak for 11th November, that led to the establishment of the Remembrance Field. Now after the field has been allowed to produce a display of the red Flanders poppies for a dozen years there is sufficient seed in the soil for the poppies to germinate every year if the field is merely cultivated to disturb the soil. It was the shelling, trench digging and grave digging of The Somme wheat fields that encouraged the red poppies to germinate and bloom. The Allied soldiers who had never seen such a spectacular sight named them the Flanders poppy.
Earlier this week, one of my WWOOF workers, Jerry Kim from South Korea, turned over the soil of the Remembrance Field.
Cultivating the Remembrance Field.
By October the poppies will be blooming at the front of Das Helwig Haus B&B.
Flanders poppies bloom in the Remembrance Field.
The history of the establishment of this Remembrance Field and the way entrance fee to view the field has raised money for Brisbane Legacy is told in my book Wildflowers, wilderness and wine. I will be launching this book at the Stanthorpe Art Gallery on Tuesday 28th July. It will then be promoted Australia wide by the RSL and Legacy groups to raise money for the care of dependents of former servicemen and women.
Wildflowers, wilderness and wine
Thus anyone who purchases Das Helwig Haus B&B will wish to continue the annual cultivation of the Remembrance Field. Meanwhile the sale of my book by the RSL and Legacy groups will continue for several years, probably reaching a peak in 2018 with the 100 year celebration of the signing of the Armistice Treaty at Versailles to end World War One. This in turn will serve to make Das Helwig Haus the most famous B&B in Australia, known all over the wold for the Remembrance Field of Flanders poppies that bloom for 11th November each year.
Das Helwig Haus B&B owned by Eberhard and Fay Helwig is situated at Glen Aplin, near Stanthorpe on the Granite Belt of southern Queensland, Australia.
This is a region noted for summer stone-fruit, autumn apples, winter Christmas in July dinners and a spring Remembrance Field of red Flanders poppies.
Fay has published a book called Wildflowers, wilderness and wine.
It is available on the Amazon.com website. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002ACXQ0M/sr=8-1/qid=1244294755/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&qid=1244294755&sr=8-1&seller=
http://stores.lulu.com/strictlyliterary
http://books.google.co.uk/
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Technorati Tags: Australia, Brisbane, Christmas in July, cool mountain district, Das Helwig Haus B&B, Korean, Queensland, red flanders poppy, remembrance field, Sale, sell, Wildflowers wilderness and wine, WWOOF
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