A Tasmanian farm that has mastered the “paddock” experience, a key component of the broader “paddock to plate” journey, has won its second World Agritourism Award.
Curringa Farm, a 750-acre working sheep and cropping farm in the state’s Highlands, is both a popular tourist attraction and a fully operational agricultural enterprise.
The Parsons family opened the property to visitors as a farm stay accommodation in 1984 and began offering farm tours in 1989.
The coveted award was presented to current farm director Tim Parsons in Italy this week.
“Tim and Jane have led this Agritourism push for over 40 years and now have nine luxurious cottages … that are fully self-contained with private views of the farm, lake and nearby mountains,” Destination Southern Tasmania chief executive Alex Heroys said.
“Guests travel from around the world [to stay at Curringa] – many have returned two or three times since and some have revisited five times over a 12-year period.”
The farm has collected numerous awards in recent years, including Tasmania’s Best Tourism Attraction in 2018 and three national awards for hosted accommodation.
The experience is one of many Tourism Tasmania CEO Sarah Clark says the island is “so lucky” to have to attract the growing agritourism audience.
“Multigenerational family-run businesses like Curringa Farm create unique opportunities for visitors to engage with and learn about the history of their produce and land,” she said.
“Curringa Farm tours … focus on modern day best practice farming and conservation activities. The tour includes a sheep shearing demonstration and watching the farm dogs rounding up several hundred sheep.
“Overnight guests who book a tour travel around on the farm bus to see niche seed crops that are exported to European countries, Japan and North America. Animal feeding of highland cows, alpacas and chickens are also enjoyed by young and old.”
