The luxury hotel brand Six Senses is planning to open its first hotel in Australia — inside an old family mansion.
The heritage house and its 22-hectare estate, named Burnham Beeches, are 25 miles from Melbourne in the forested Dandenong Ranges. The house was designed in 1933 for an Australian family, according to a website detailing the home’s history.
It will now be restored after “sitting neglected for far too long,” said the great-granddaughter of the original owner, Sophie Paterson, according to a Six Senses press release.
Once renovated, the hotel will have 43 guest rooms with different layouts. Plans to incorporate a “premium glamping” option on the estate will bring the number of accommodations to 82.
The unique and historical environment of Burnham Beeches made it the “extraordinary project” that Six Senses had been waiting for, CEO Neil Jacobs told CNBC.
The hotel group “had ambitions to come to [Burnham Beeches] for a while but needed to find the right offering and right developer,” he added.
The hotel, which is being restored by Australian builders Hamilton Marino, will have walking trails, a “nature playground” for children, and gardens which will supply ingredients for the hotel’s kitchen and spa, according to the press release.
The property aims to be a “regenerative” instead of a “static” place, Jacobs said.
Six Senses Burnham Beeches is expected to open in mid-2025.
About Australia’s Dandenong mountains
The Dandenongs are a low mountain range in Victoria, Australia, known for its small hilltop towns and forest hiking trails.
Three popular villages — Mount Dandenong, Olinda and Sassafras — are nestled among the mountains, where visitors can purchase regional wines, handmade crafts and fresh produce.
Popular activities include riding on Puffing Billy — an open-carriage steam train that dates to the early 1900s — seasonal berry picking and picnicking in the many gardens and parks in the area.