The Racecourse Inn - Longford, Tasmania

The Racecourse Inn is thoroughly cleaned to COVID-safe standards.

If you are displaying symptoms of COVID-19  please do not leave your room, or let anyone in  your party leave your room.  

Please call Annabelle on 0409 886 350, and the National Coronavirus Helpline on  1800 020 080.  The Department of Health will issue further instructions.

Symptoms may include:

• Fever
• Cough
•  Sore throat
• Shortness of breath
• Runny nose
• Headache
• Muscle or joint pain
• Nausea
• Diarrhoea
• Vomiting
• Loss of sense of smell and taste
• Loss of appetite
• Fatigue
• Conjunctavitis

A full continental and cooked breakfast is served in the dining room in two sittings – 7.30 and 8.30am.  We can provide an earlier breakfast on request for early departures.  

Please leave your breakfast order on the little pine desk in the front hall downstairs with your requests for a continental and cooked breakfast.  Both are included in your tariff.

For the duration of your stay at The Racecourse Inn,  your room is your bubble.   Due to COVID-19 social distancing requirements, we do not enter your room to provide in-room servicing during your stay.  

You will find a soft basket in your room with a laundry bag and a check-list.  Please leave your used towels, bathmat and face washers in the bag, and check from the list which items you would like refilled.    

Please leave the basket outside your door and we will replace the items during the morning and leave the basket with clean linen, tea and coffee outside your door. 

There is a small bottle of dishwashing liquid and a tea towel in your room.  Please don’t place the tea towels in the laundry bag, as these are laundered separately.

You are welcome to bring Takeaway back to eat in the dining room or the garden, and we have a BBQ for guests to use.  Hill Street Grocer, our local supermarket also has an excellent range of pre-prepared meals.  Please ask if you would like cutlery, crockery and glasses.  

We have a small range of red and white wines, beers, spirits and soft drinks.  Please ask  Annabelle or Richard for assistance.

Check in after 3 pm

Check out  by 10 am

The large key on the ring opens the door to your room.  The smaller key opens the external side door on Bulwer Street.  Please note:  When entering the guest house from the outside, please make sure that you turn the key back the other way to lock the door behind you, and ensure that the door clicks when shut.  

Please leave the key in the door in your room when you leave.

A copy of the evacuation procedures plan in located on the back of the door.  Guests upstairs please use the fire escape at the top of the stairs.

You will find an extra doona in the chest of drawers or wardrobe, and extra blankets in the cupboards.  A hairdryer is located in your wardrobe or bathroom cupboard.

A wall-mounted heater is provided in the downstairs rooms, and upstairs rooms have reverse cycle air-conditioners/heaters.  Electric blankets are fitted to your bed in the cooler months.  All rooms have double glazed windows for your comfort.  It is recommended that you keep them closed to reduce external noise, and as these old sash windows are delicate.  Ceiling vents provide fresh air to the room.  

You are most welcome to explore the garden, and to sit outside on the lawn.  There is a rose list in the dining room.  The garden is spread over an L shaped block, with a couple of gates to keep the chooks and the sheep in; please just let yourself through the gates as you go and close them behind you, or the sheep – who are escape artists – will end up on someone’s BBQ.   Our current chooks are a mixture of Light Sussex (Hester), Silver-laced Wyandotte (Angelina),  Buff Orpington (Carrot) and Salmon Faverolle (Parsnip).  

You may also meet “Pippin”, our very friendly young Smithfield sheepdog.  Smithfields are large, bearded drover’s dogs that were used to drive cattle, sheep, goats and geese to Smithfield Meat Market in London in the 18th century.  Imported to Australia in the earliest days of the colonies, Smithfields struggled with the heat on the mainland but flourished in Tasmania where a woolly coat was desirable.  They are now thought to be extinct in England and only really exist in numbers in Tasmania.  They possess floppy ears and shaggy hair on the body, face and legs, and commonly a white collar and tip on the tail.  They are possibly derived from a working strain of the Bearded or Highland Collie.  A “Smithfield Colley” was exhibited at Australia’s first dog show in Hobart in 1862. 

We also have two lovely black sheep, Dolly (a ewe) and Stormy (a wether), who are a Corriedale, Dorper, Border Leicester cross.  The sheep, who welcome visitors (you will hear them before you see them!), are very fond of rose and apple leaves and like a scratch behind the ears.  

Our resident and transient Tasmanian wildlife includes Southern brown bandicoots, Pademelons (small wallabies), Echidnas and rabbits.

There is a selection of teas and coffee in your room, fresh milk in your fridge, and a coffee machine in the dining room for guest use.  

There is free wireless internet throughout The Racecourse Inn.  

Wifi network  – Racecourse Inn           Password – 114marlborough

Upstairs Wifi network  – Telstra6A9309_2GEXT          Password – 1C75157339

 Woolmers Estate

Open daily 9.30am – 4pm.  Hours vary in winter.

A guided tour of Woolmers Estate allows you to experience a special journey through time, from the establishment of the estate in 1817, by Thomas Archer 1st, to the last descendant, Thomas Archer 6th in 1994, and marvel at the array of personal collections and possessions accumulated through six generations of the family.  Also home to The National Rose Garden.  

Lunches and coffee at “Homage” in the Nigel Peck Centre – Thurs – Sun 12 – 2.30pm.

https://www.woolmers.com.au

Woolmers Lane (5 minutes from The Racecourse Inn)

Brickendon Farm Village

Open Wed – Sun 10am– 2pm

Brickendon is one of Tasmania’s oldest farming properties, settled in 1824 by William Archer.  The farm has been continuously operated and lived on by his direct descendants, now in their 7th generation.

In July 2010, Brickendon Estate along with its neighbouring property, Woolmers Estate were listed jointly as a World Heritage  Site being part of the Australian Convict Sites World Heritage Property.

The two Estates are regarded as the most significant rural estates in Australia having the second largest number of convict workers and still retaining a living history from early European settlement to the present day. 

Visitors are able to walk through the convict built farm buildings, and also the beautiful, established gardens which surround the Georgian family home.  Notable buildings include the Pillar Granary with its unique Staddle Stones.  

Entry fee includes both the Farm buildings and the magnificent house gardens. 

www.brickendon.com.au

236 Wellington Street, Longford (Woolmers Lane) – 3 minutes from The Racecourse Inn.

Brickendon Estate

 

Woolmers to Brickendon Convict Walk

Walk from Woolmers to Brickendon or vice versa through hedge lined pastureland, with interpretive material on the way.  Entry fees apply.  Approximately 40 minutes.

Clarendon House

Open Tues – Sun  10-4pm

Built in 1838 by James Cox, son of William Cox who built the first road over the Blue Mountains, Clarendon is a magnificent noe-classical House, set 1in magnificent grounds on the banks of the South Esk River.  Now operated by the National Trust, the house, is open to the public.

Nile Road, Evandale.  20 mins from The Racecourse Inn.

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Entally House

Open Wed – Sat 10am  – 4pm  

The Estate consists of Entally House and various outbuildings, including Australia’s oldest Conservatory, Chapel, Stables & Carriage House. The Estate encompasses grand, park-like surroundings with magnificent gardens and a vineyard.

Open to the Public

Blenheim Gallery and Garden

“Blenheim Farm”, Cressy Road, Cressy.  

0419 584 667

Blenheim Gallery and Garden is a unique Tasmanian experience showcasing artist works in a country garden setting.  Various exhibitions throughout the year.

www.blenheimgalleryandgarden.com.au

Longford Berries 

Pick your own strawberries, Loganberries and Blackberries at Longford Berries, 119 Bulwer Street (two blocks down Bulwer Street – 2 mins from The Racecourse Inn).  Spring and Summer. 

Wednesday , Saturday and Sunday 9-4pm (or by arrangement – please see Annabelle)

“Patterdale”, Deddington

“Patterdale” at Deddington, built by renowned colonial artist John Glover (often called the father of Australian landscape painting), will be open to the public on the first  Wednesday of each month from 10-4pm.   

Personalised Tours of Glover Country are available by appointment.The tour can be tailored to individual or group requirements and includes a visit to Glover’s House (currently in the process of restoration) and walks to some of the nearby sites, evident in his well-known sketches and paintings. Visitors receive a map, showing the different site locations and light refreshments will be provided at Nile Farm.  Cost $75 per person. Group costs to be advised on booking.  

Uplands Road, Deddington

Bookings essential. www.glovercountry.com.au/contact-us.html   

Carol –  0419 344 883

Patterdale

Ernest and Ernesto Espresso Bar

57 Wellington Street, Longford

Mon – Fri 7 am – 2 pm 

Sat – 9am – 2 pm

Storm & India Specialty Tea Shop

59 Wellington Street, Longford

Hours to be advised.

Junker Jane

Collectables, knick-knacks, ornaments and trinkets

61 Wellington Street, Longford

Wed – Sat 10am – 4pm.

Dandisons

Antiques and collectables

65 Wellington Street, Longford

Friday and Saturday 10am – 4pm.

Lofty Homestore

Wellington Street

Wed – Sat

Pharmacies

Amcal Pharmacy – 7 Wellington Street 

Newsagent

26 Marlborough Street, Longford

Supermarkets

Hill Street Grocer (Brown’s Store IGA) – 9 Wellington Street

IGA Express (Marcus) – 22 Wellington Street

Bell and Gong Vineyard

873 Illawarra Rd, Longford TAS 7301

Open for Wine Tasting and Sales from Thursday – Monday, 10am – 3pm.

Other times by appointment – phone 0417 423 889

Adams distillery

“Glen Ireh”, 35 Drummond St, Perth

By appointment.

Phone 0407 315 741 or 0459 479 040

Doctor’s Surgery

Longford Medical Centre

28 George Street, Longford

(03) 6391 1170

Emergency – 000

Anglican Church

Christ Church Longford

Services Sundays:  9.00 am Holy Communion.  Wednesdays:  10.30 am Book of Common Prayer.

Catholic Church

24 Goderich Street, Longford

Mass Sunday 8am

Baptist Church

Riverlands Baptist Church

39 Wellington Street, Longford

Uniting Church

High Street, Longford

(03) 6391 2113

Evandale Market  

Great local market with fresh produce, plants, flowers, local honey and wine, bric-a-brac, books and antiques and collectables.

Falls Park Evandale

Sunday 8.30am – 1pm (15 minutes from The Racecourse Inn)

Fresh Tasmanian produce and food. 

Cimitiere Street, Launceston (20 mins drives from The Racecourse Inn)

Saturday mornings.

Read our history online.