Friday night was the gala opening of the 19th Biennial Stanthorpe Art Festival, and a first for us.  What a wonderful night!  All 250 tickets were sold out and the art gallery was a buzz with energy and excitement.

The festival was opened by the very warm and eloquent Governor of Queensland, Ms Penelope Wensley AO.  We at Alure Boutique Villas were delighted to host John McDonald, esteemed art critic and author during his Stanthorpe stay.  John performed the very difficult task of judging at the festival.  With over 1000 entries Australia wide, John managed to somehow whittle the exhibition down to 145 diverse contemporary works.  The winner of the $10,000 prize was Gosia Wlodarczak’s striking artwork titled “Lawrence Armchair Graphite #2”.  Other renowned artists include Greg Daly, Thomas Spence, Robyn Sweeney, Richard Dunlop, Josie Petyarre and Nigel Killalea to name just a few.

As festival sponsors, we were invited to a preview tour of the exhibits with John McDonald.  We found John’s comments and knowledge illuminating and insightful.

Do yourself a favour and see the Stanthorpe Art Festival before it ends on 18 April 2010!

Voted an Iconic Queensland Event in the Q150 Celebrations, the Stanthorpe Apple & Grape Harvest festival, is one of Queensland’s longest running and most successful Festivals!

Join in from 5th March – 7th March 2010 for three days and nights of non-stop fun! The festival, held biennially, is a celebration of the Granite Belt region’s produce and booming wine industry. Arguably Australia’s leading harvest festival, it has a successful track record spanning four decades.

Time is running out for accommodation on this jam packed weekend – we are fully booked at Alure!  Try searching on https://www.granitebeltwinecountry.com.au/

For more information on the Stanthorpe Apple & Grape Harvest Festival, visit http://www.appleandgrape.org/

With this being the first post on our newly created Blog it seems fitting to introduce ourselves. We are mother and daughter duo, Ruth McLennan and Marion Carrick and are the owners of Alure Stanthorpe (luxury accommodation in Stanthorpe). We lived in Brisbane and moved to Stanthorpe, chasing a more relaxing lifestyle.

Our intent with this Blog is to try to show visitors to Stanthorpe and the Granite Belt what is great about this part of the world and why we love the region. Stanthorpe has a unique character and we hope we can communicate some of that to you over the coming months.