It is nice to be back home, joining the lovely ladies from our Circle of Friends group for morning tea again this week...
This week their outing was out to St Aubins for morning tea..
St Aubins holds some special memories for me from when we first arrived in Rockhampton. I used to frequent it often back in those days. Mostly it used to be a nursery along with several cottages of speciality shops like a teddy bear shop and a children's
clothing shop with items from England, France, Denmark and Sweden.
That all changed when the owner at the time died unexpectedly and the property was sold and it closed for many years...
St Aubins is set on a total of 2 acres of land, consisting of a beautiful open paved courtyard surrounded by cottage gardens. It features a lush front yard, 4 cottages and a heritage listed home. The home is beleived to have been designed and erected around 1889 by John (Johann) Roderkirchen, who migrated along with his wife Eleanore and two children from Hamburg in Germany in October 1877. The house site adjoins what remains of the clay pit and brick-making complex which Roderkirchen operated at Lion Creek in West Rockhampton.
The timber cottages at St Aubins have been relocated from elsewhere and do not comprise part of the historical significance of the property. A driveway leads from Canoona Street entry to the property between the main house and the adjacent colleciton of village buildings. A lovely white timber picket fence separates the two areas.
The most notable of the relocated structures is reputed to be the original Steam Tram Ticket Office originally situated near the Fitzroy River Bridge and Purrey Cottage (Purrey being the name of the French Manufacturer of Rockhampton's Steam Train Fleet)
St Aubins has been a wedding venue now for a couple of years or more and a couple of the cottages have been converted to B&B's to accomodate bridal parties or wedding guests. Just recently they have opened up a little cafe which serves, breakfast, lunches and morning and afternoon teas.
All the food served is made on the premises and is beautiful. We had a lovely morning tea and I am keen to take Steve back for either breakfast or lunch in the near future...
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We had our morning tea under here...
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I had the lemon tart with white chocolate sauce - absolutely delicious
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Specialty - Peach and Custard Tart...
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Coconut and Lime Hearts with Caramelized Mango...
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Hot Chocolate
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Delicious Apple Galette with whipped cream
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We asked to see their lunch menu to see what was on offer and liked what we saw. We plan to lunch there in the near future...
As we went in to pay for our morning tea, I was impressed with the beautiful china ware they had on display..
After lunch we all paid a visit to the lovely little gift shop there. Most of the gifts are hand made and are made by local craftsmen from the Rockhampton district. They had some really lovely stuff in there, things like, candles, ear rings, sewing, gift cards, toys, hats, paintings and many other delightful gifts.
By the time we finished looking around inside the gift shop it was pushing on towards 11.30am so it was time to think about leaving...
It has been a lovely morning, with lovely company in an amazing setting...
I think St Aubins will definitely go back on our list of places to visit again in the near future. We have loved every minute of our visit here this morning...
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