Walk 2: Blandstown

2km walk

The little hamlet of Blandstown developed as a group of cottages and village shops at the gate near what was one of the most substantial farms in the Avon Valley in the 1830s. Blandstown is named after Henry Rivett Bland, a young man who arrived with the first settlers in 1831 to set up a Government Stock Station. He was appointed York’s Government Resident in 1834 and Protector of the Natives in 1841.

When Bland left York in 1848 to become private secretary to the Governor he sold his considerable estate to Stephen Stanley Parker. The Parkers were one of the leading pioneer families in the Avon region, and held a number of other broad acre farms.

This considerable farming enterprise, with its large domestic establishment provided employment for both men and women, and provided a focus for settlement south of Bland Brook from 1849 until it was sold in 1943.

Particularly in spring, this quiet, shady corner of birds, brooks and cottage gardens speaks of the English countryside whence its architects came, from Cambridgeshire, Kent and Nottinghamshire.

Points of interest on the Heritage Walk 2 are:

Site of St Johns Church and Cemetery, Former Kings Head Hotel, Bakery and Residence, Wheeler Street, Wansbrough’s House, Langsford House, Former Albion Hotel, Early cottages, Balladong Farm, Redmile House and Parkers Bridge.