When Kay and Gerald Norton-Knight first moved into a ramshackle pisé cottage on 80 acres, called ‘Rosby’, outside of Mudgee as newlyweds in 1983, they dreamt of making a home and raising a family. Five acres of garden and four daughters later, Gerry began planting grapevines on the sheltered, sloping block he’d been eyeing off for years, officially calling himself a vigneron when his first caberne
t buds burst in 1996. To find a home for his Rosby vintages, Gerry turned out a few hundred mud bricks to make a cellar-door hut overlooking the vineyard, followed closely by the purchase of a neighbouring property and immaculate guesthouse conversion. While Gerry was in the vineyard and his hut, Kay was busily putting some finishing touches to her own lofty dreams, completing a fine arts degree and opening a private print and sculpture studio in the garden. Soon came an impressive line-up of visiting artists for an annual Rosby workshop program, as well as an outdoor sculpture exhibition that would quickly become the largest in Regional NSW. Kay and Gerry’s hazy 1980s dream has become a living reality, with the Rosby stable not only making a home for the Norton-Knight family, but also a vivid backdrop for a new generation in the garden, the hut, the guesthouse, the studio, and the vineyard.
