The Sustainable Saumarez project hopes to see the iconic mansion’s back paddock developed into an overnight stay for weddings and grey nomads, and $50,000 worth of solar panels installed on the roof.

The rose garden will also get a face lift, with more than 400 new roses planted in Francis John White’s old orchard.

Saumarez Homestead property manager Les Davis said the ambitious changes are designed to make the mansion sustainable as a tourism draw card.

“We want to blend heritage and environment to make the place more sustainable,” Mr Davis said.

“We’ll be able to take the main homestead and the farm area literally off the grid for the day – and that’s where we use most of our power.”

In the past six years the property has gone from 3000 visitors a year to almost 10,000.

“Even then the income isn’t enough to cover the costs of maintaining and operating the property,” Mr Davis said.

“The project that has been proposed will be a major increase in our operations, we’ll have 10 cabins hidden away among the elm trees at the bottom of the property – designed to look like the old ram shed, or shearer’s quarters.”

It’s expected to cost $2.8 million to develop the 100 year old farm area.

The idea is to let the public inhabit the area, and within three to four years Mr Davis said the accommodation should have seen 10,000 bed nights.

“That would be quite an economic increase for Armidale, we want to complement the existing accommodation rather than replacing them,” he said.

“The idea is to get groups to come and spend two, three days or longer in Armidale and the region and see what we have to offer.”

The move would see the property go from two staff to ten, and create 33 new jobs locally.

$3.2 million would also be injected into the economy in additional tourism related economic output.