This place is beautiful! I believe it's only open to the public twice a year - on Australian Day and mid year as part of Open House Melbourne. Visited on the Australia Day Open Day, and not only were you allowed on the grounds (inside and out), there was a big stage with family friendly entertainment throughout the day, umbrellas for shading (in addition to the natural shading from mature trees), food trucks, children activities like face painting, play areas, mini farm, fire services letting kids have a mini lesson on handling a fire hose with pressured down water etc. You can visit the stables, have a game of tennis, lawn bowl, croquet. The air force roulettes also put on a show on the day - granted you could probably see them at other areas in the city, but you could see most of their manoeuvres clearly, plus they had someone from the force commentating on the actions on the main stage. Whilst the inside of the house has some pretty unique architectural designs, the outside grounds were simply magnificent. There were sections where I felt like I was not only transported away from the city, but also into another country. So all in all I would highly recommend a visit!