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home or start popping out of doorways to discover you loitering in their house.

The Drawing Room and Dining Room are of typical Victorian appearance, with polished wooden furniture, heavy drapes and carpets with very ornate designs on them.

Next to the Dining Room "the Butler's Servery" is a small room used to transfer food to the dining room and to mix drinks. Of interest is the sink lined with lead.

Between the kitchen and laundry there is a stairway of narrow, steep "servant's stairs" leading to the first floor.

The first floor consists mainly of bedrooms, boudoirs (dressing rooms) and bathrooms, each with it's own individual decor associated with the Hall's era.

In 1975 the old building was used for the set of "Mrs Appleyard's College for Young Ladies" in the movie "Picnic at Hanging Rock" (an Australian Peter Weir film based on the book by Australian author Joan Lindsay). One of the master bedrooms named "The White Room" was used during filming of the movie as Miranda's bedroom. Of particular note is the dressing table by the window where the girls in the film sat brushing their hair.

Back on the ground floor "The Billiard Room" (so called because of the huge Billiard table in the center of the room) is very dimly lit and doubles as a library, it's walls lined with books. All of the books are really old, with a lot of the titles dating back to the 1890's as they have remained on the shelves untouched since their owner died in 1950.

Lastly the most fascinating of all the rooms and also used in "Picnic at Hanging Rock" the "Smoking Room" has been left exactly as it was the day the last owner of the hall died. As the name suggests the room is strictly a man's room used by the men of the day as a smoking and relaxing room after they had eaten their diner (the ladies would probably of retired to the drawing room). This room is also very dimly lit and has a strong masculine air about it mainly because there isn't a space on the high ceiling walls that isn't decorated with manly artifacts and war relics such as spears, knives and guns collected during the owner's extensive travels.

On the whole Martindale is a very breath taking experience well worth taking a detour for. Even if you went nowhere else in The Clare Valley it would be worth spending a week at the hall just to experience going back in time and living in a 19th century mansion.

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