Fairfax Media director Michael Anderson has renewed hopes in the Southern Highlands: Title Tattle

The two-storey 1832 sandstone White Horse Inn at Berrima has sold for $1.44 million to television industry pioneer Reg Grundy and his wife, Joy Chambers, who intend to use the building as a private museum. The township is not far from their rural retreat, Comfort Hill, which cost a record $15 million when acquired in 2007 from businessman Michael Ball and his wife, Daria. The Georgian-style White Horse is set on a 5,583-square-metre Wingecarribee River holding sitting prominently on the rise of the Old Hume Highway. Title Tattle seems to recall that it was originally the home of Ben and Lucy Osborne. For the past eight decades it's been a restaurant, having last traded for $1.79 million to the Klumper family in 2009. The neighbouring heritage commercial property is owned by mining tycoon Andrew Forrest's family and it accommodates the Berrima district museum.

The Mittagong residence Taliesen, named after the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture in Wisconsin, has been sold. Designed to take full advantage of the views, the single-level house has floor-to-ceiling glass on its northern side. Built in the 1960s and renovated in the 1990s, it sits on a 7,643-square-metre holding, which last traded for $385,000 in 1983. Located high on Mount Gibraltar, with a tennis court and pool, it’s set on a former walnut grove, hence the two dozen 60-year-old walnut trees in its gardens. It was initially listed in 2010 with $3.3 million hopes. No sale price indication has been offered by Drew Lindsay Real Estate.

Dandaloo, the 40-hectare Canyonleigh farm, has been bought by equestrians Sam Lyle and Nicola Turner. Family matriarch Putch Lyle has assisted with the $1.15 million purchase by taking a third equity. It was listed through Andrew Hearn Real Estate. The eight-paddock property comes with a  five-bedroom brick house along with a complex with 13 stables, covered round-yard, feed room and a separate hay shed located near the second cottage.

And ever on the lookout for the start of a possible trend, Title Tattle notes the first substantial lifestyle farm acquisition by Chinese buyers within the highlands. It was when the Lin family paid $7.15 million for Gleneagle (pictured above), the 40-hectare Mittagong property, which sold through Richardson & Wrench Bowral agent Mick Maloney. Perched 830 metres above sea level, it overlooks the 75,000-hectare National Park back towards the distant Sydney skyline. The 2001-built house was Alpine lodge style – cosy with huge open fireplaces, warm timber finishes and authentic Snowy Mountains granite stone work inside and out. The Lins export wine from the Canberra region to China, as their customers love the fruity shiraz. The family were the $8.5 million buyers of the record-setting Waverton residence sale in 2010.