Several historic estates within about an hour's drive of the capital are looking for their next millionaire owners. The grand old homesteads are on sprawling acreages, with stories enough to fill books (literally, in one case), and space enough to house dozens.

Unlike in years gone past, these properties are not attracting farmers looking for fertile land, but instead lifestyle-craving professionals or commuters looking for a taste of rural grandeur within easy reach of cities, and without the responsibility of a full-scale farm.

Kippilaw, the one-time headquarters of the Chisholm family farming empire, includes a six-bedroom stone homestead that sits on 162 hectares overlooking manicured gardens and the Wollondilly River just outside Goulburn. The 175-year-old homestead is for sale for just the third time in its history, and looking to fetch $5 million.

Nearby is another former Chisholm family offering, Merrilla, with a similarly rich history, luxurious homestead, and even larger land holding, which is expected to attract a similar price.

Sitting on a slightly smaller holding, but with an option to buy additional farming land, is the historic St Clair, built in 1882, and boasting eight bedrooms, six fireplaces, and three hectares of beautiful gardens on the 101-hectare estate, looking for a buyer for around $2.85 million.

The owners, Peter Mullins, a former head of a number of non-government organisations and companies, and his wife Margie, an artist and Devon cattle farmer, bought the house almost 30 years ago, but are looking to downsize now

their five children have moved out and are scattered across the country.

Mrs Mullins said it was love at first sight when she first saw the property, and she hoped a new owner would feel the same.

''I think there has to be a mutual love affair - I think the house will choose who it wants. I mean I found it, and there was no way I wasn't going to buy it from the time I spotted it. I think it's going to be the same sort of person,'' she said.

The couple said properties in the area were beginning to attract professionals and commuters longing for a change of pace, but who still needed to be close to the city.

''It's a lovely spot, and both Pete and I commuted for seven years to Canberra. It's a nice, calming drive and it takes a little less than an hour,'' Mrs Mullins said.

Mr Mullins, who works to promote business in the region through Goulburn Region Enterprise and Regional Development Australia, said a lot of the interest in the home had come from the ACT, a trend that was happening around the region.

''Canberra seems to be maintaining the city-in-the-country sort of approach, whereby people in Canberra are not necessarily absolutely wedded to urban life, and that translates into the spread-out,'' he said.

Mr Mullins said the home was solidly built, needed no work, little maintenance, did not cost too much to heat and run, and had ''always been a family home''.

''The house revels in being loved. It just makes you feel really comfortable. Anyone who walks into the house and has been here for a while, suddenly has that good feeling about it. It's sort of settled, sitting here, and waiting for a new friend,'' he said.

On the upper end of the price scale, Kippilaw and Merrilla's real estate agent Chris Meares said both represented rare opportunities to buy not just a piece of Australia's past, but also a decadent lifestyle.

''They don't come up for sale very often. It's just coincidental that there are two of them for sale in Goulburn at the moment,'' Mr Meares said.

''These are some of the iconic pastoral homesteads in Australia, really. If people go and look at the homestead and then delve into the history behind them, they're really looking at the history of rural Australia and early settlement of Australia.''

Mr Meares said the Kippilaw estate was just big enough to run a small farm with marginal profits - it currently fattens about 160 cattle on pastured land - but it was the lifestyle that would ultimately attract a ''high net worth individual'' looking for a rural family retreat that had good access to Sydney.

''The homestead at Kippilaw was the original Chisholm headquarters, so it was the flagship. Today it's sitting on 400 acres - it's very good land, sitting on the Wollondilly River - but it is the magnificent homestead which is really the feature of it,'' he said.

With a swimming pool, tennis court, and established gardens featuring 180-year-old oak trees and Wollondilly River frontage, the property offers a level of luxury that is not available in the city.

''The buyer of Kippilaw is someone who wants to live in the country, who wants a good, small farm, in a good location and with a wonderful homestead. So, it's very much lifestyle driven.

''It is sitting there as a very good investment for someone. It's the old story - if someone came back to me after we sold Kippilaw and said find me another Kippilaw, it's just impossible because they're unique properties.''

But if it is rooms rather than acres that catch your attention, there are 45 of them for sale in one grand old home in the township of Yass.

Old Linton, the historic former mansion of legendary sheep baron A.B. Triggs, has been on the market for two years, with an asking price around $3 million.

The current resident of the two-hectare 1857 property, and author of a book on its history, Stephe Jitts, has spent seven years dutifully restoring parts of the seven-wing home while living in it as a private home, and said it had been a labour of love.

''We bought it because we love the house, we wanted to stop it falling down. It's got a huge amount of history,'' he said. ''It is in my opinion one of the most significant buildings in the Yass district.

''This is a grand house, it's got a large number of bedrooms, a large number of bathrooms, it's got a ballroom, it's got formal entertaining areas, it's got a dining room that sits 45 people or more.''

The house went to auction two years ago, but was passed in. Since then, Mr Jitts said the home had attracted plenty of interest in its history - tours by the National Trust attracted hundreds of people - but he was surprised that it hadn't had many people interested in buying it.

But he wasn't in any rush.

''If it didn't sell, it wouldn't worry me. I'm quite happy living here. To sell the place would be both a good and a bad thing. I love the place, that's why I bought it,'' he said.

Mr Jitts said the next owner would probably look to turn the property into a commercial venture - be it a guest house, restaurant, conference centre, or something else altogether.

''I think it's the obvious way forward,'' he said. ''It would be a very exceptional family that needs a house this big.''