Operator Don Spencer was looking for a hospitality business after owning a resort in Fiji that he had built from scratch.

Mr. Spencer visited the area as his daughter lives at Bucketty and was immediately drawn to Mulla Villa.

“I saw the enormous potential if it was done up and marketed properly,” he said.

Mr. Spencer was seeking somewhere that could host bus tours and hold old-but-elegant weddings and events.

He and his nephew Davey Spencer took over from former owners, the Maul family, on October 30 last year, and got to work on restoring the property’s features.

Don Spencer said a massive drawcard was the age of the property, with some original features dating back to the 1830s.

“There’s not many buildings around that old,” he said.

He approached council, who have been “exceptionally helpful” in assisting them to get the place up and running and encouraged them to redevelop it.

An example of the redevelopment that the Spencers have introduced was knocking out the gyprock and cedar that was being eaten away at by termites in the restaurant.

As they started to chip away at it, they realised the original sandstone from the 1800s was underneath, which resident manager and part-owner Davey Spencer said was very exciting.

Davey Spencer has also worked carefully to uncover parts of the original Great North Road that are on the property, without destroying them.

“We want to restore the history, not lose it,” he said.

“All of these things that we’re discovering, it’s all very fascinating stuff,” Don Spencer added.

“Everyone’s really proud of the historic side of it that should be preserved.”

The property was originally owned by David Dunlop, a police magistrate from Sydney who employed convict labour to build the property.

From his position as magistrate, Dunlop was assigned convict servants who were confined to cells underneath the house of an evening.

The Spencers have now opened these cells to visitors, which still contain some of the original equipment used around the property in the 1830s.

“It’s for everyone, so let’s open it up,” Davey Spencer said.

Don Spencer is planning to talk to council about implementing signs from the highway to attract more tourists to detour along Peats Ridge Road and through the area from Sydney, rather than going straight through on the highway.

“So people on the roads know that there is something worth stopping to look at,” he said.

“People don’t realise that we have this in our area.”