Bradman ‘weekender' cottage yours for $2m
The cottage sits on almost nine hectares about 15 kilometres from central Adelaide.

Bradman ‘weekender' cottage yours for $2m

Cricket tragics have the opportunity to buy a slice of sporting history, after the Adelaide Hills cottage bought by Sir Don Bradman as a weekend retreat more than 60 years ago was put up for sale by the batting genius’s daughter-in-law.

Set on almost nine hectares at 117 Sheoak Road in Crafers West, about 15 kilometres from the Adelaide city centre, Glenquarry Farm, is thought to date back to about 1836, when it was built by a runaway from a British naval expedition.

It was bought by Sir Don and his wife Jessie in 1959 as a place to escape the public attention he famously disliked and was only a short drive from the couple’s suburban home in Kensington Park, which the Bradman family still own.

Located down a long tree-lined driveway well back from Sheoak Road, and set among cottage gardens, paddocks and dams, selling agent Paul Clifford from Raine & Horne said not many people in the area even knew it was owned by the Bradmans.

“It was a complete escape for Sir Don. Somewhere where he could do his gardening,” said Mr Clifford who is marketing Glenquarry Farm with an asking pricing above $1.95 million.

In 1973, their son John Bradman moved into the cottage with his wife Judith, where they raised their children.

Sir Don, who turned his focus to business and cricket administration after retiring from the game in 1949, continued to spend time at the Crafers West cottage with his wife though the years. Sir Don passed away in 2001, aged 92.

When John and Judith separated in 1994, Ms Bradsen (the surname the couple adopted to escape the public focus, John later changed it back to Bradman) retained the Crafers West cottage in the divorce settlement and his lived there ever since.

However, she has now decided to sell as parts of plans to downsize.

Talking of her famous father-in-law, Ms Bradsen said he would come to the cottage often in the early days and was involved in renovating it.

She said the simplicity and modesty of the place appealed to Sir Don.

“He always had his own chair and he would sit on the veranda and watch everyone play,” she told local journalists.

The property features a three-bedroom, two-bathroom stone cottage with gourmet kitchen and two cellars as well as a barn or workshop, storeroom, cellar, studio and stable. All buildings on the property are made from nearby Mt. Lofty freestone.

Mr Clifford said the property resembled a “small English village” with all the buildings cut from stone.

He said anyone who made enquiries would be carefully vetted to ensure they were actually interested in buying the property, rather than those curious to see where Sir Don spent his weekends.

“We won’t be having open homes. Those interested will have to jump through a few hoops so we can ascertain they are the real deal,” Mr Clifford said.

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