Valley Harvest is set in one of the most prestiges & historic building’s in Grafton. The building used to be the commercial bank & was built over 130 years ago. The building is a two storey affair entirely constructed from sandstone. Complete with carved balustrades & pillars. The Verandahs make for a perfect dining experience; providing a vista of the main street of Grafton.
Inside is just as ornate. One of the main features is the mouldings in the main dining room. They are in immaculate condition & have to be seen to be belived. Next are all the massive cedar windows which line the entire outer walls of the main dining room. All the doors, skirting boards & architraves are made of cedar too. There is an ornate marble fire place in the main dining room, & an equally pretty one in the Alexander Room ( our private function room). The fire places add a wonderfull ambience in winter & have the benefit of keeping our patrons warm.
Our Bar is the old Bank Vault. The door is of course quite amazing with ornate metal detailing, but it is the ceiling in the safe that I find extrodinary. It has a lovely brick domed ceiling, this must of taken some skill to construct. In the main dining room is two massive roman-like pillars, these are of a cast iron construction & are now painted maroon. They are a beautiful feature but unfortunately they do get in the way sometimes. I guess the final feature is the actually the beautiful carpet. Which although is not original it is a ‘Westminister’ & would have been typical in the day.
We will be posting photos soon & more of the history about the bank.
There is a resident ghost who I am keen to do some research on!!!??? So watch out for that story.
My daughter & son in law own Valley Harvest. Sometimes I am called upon to help. It is very much a family affair.
I grew up in Yamba. I wanted to add that my great, great grandmother was the first european child born in Yamba. We are direct decendents from Captian Freeburn.
Friday 5th August the night I was surprised by a private room at Valley Harvest, lit with candles & the flicker of an open fire place. Our own menu board, put together for us & us alone. The food was delectable & the wine enjoyable. The service was impeccable & made me feel like royalty. Thank you Paul & Bonny for your hospitality and all the nice little touches that made this a night never to be forgotten. I couldn’t think of a more romantic way to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary.
Wonderful food wonderful hosts what more can you say.
We had lunch in the main restaurant (the old banking chamber) on the way back from Queensland on 10th November 2012, having detoured into Grafton to see the Jacarandas. What a wonderful surprise to see the marvellous old building being used so well. I am a member of the Historical Society at Milton on the South Coast. We have some nice old buildings but nothing as impressive as yours.