Before I had walked 3 kilometres west from New Norfolk, I was pleasantly surprised to pass a beautiful 19th century grand country house. Photos of the Atherfield House wearing a coat of an inauthentic pink can be seen at http://www.atherfield.com/ and I am delighted to show you the house with its current more sympathetic colour.
Last week the deciduous trees on this property were yet to flourish with flower and leaf, but the spring bulbs splashed colour in dotty clumps.
The history of the house has been summarised at http://www.atherfield.com/history.shtml. It seems that this building started its life in the early 1800s as the Help Me On Inn which later was named the Ark Inn. Over the early decades, when convicts were transported inland they were housed overnight in one of two stone cells still existing beneath the house.
Immediately next to Atherfield House I spotted a paddock containing grazing alpacas.
View Atherfield Alpacas for more of these soft gentle-appearing animals. The Atherfield House and property sits next to the main road over which lies a slip of vegetation then the river. I wonder if the alpacas enjoyed their view of the fast flowing Derwent River as much as I did.
Walking the Derwent River 