If you’re a book lover, a foodie, a wine buff, or a local, you will have heard the name Berkelouw. For decades, the name has been synonymous with books, but since 2012, the family has expanded their magnificent property, Bendooley Estate in Berrima, to include two major wedding and event venues, a magnificent cellar door and luxury accommodation.
But the history of Berkelouw is really all in the books. We sat down with Leo Berkelouw and his son, Paul, to find out a bit about the family history, and to hear all about the books (there may also have been wine!).
1 :: The name Berkelouw is well known in both the antiquarian and modern book world. Can you share a little of your history?
Leo: My brother, Henry and I are fifth generation book dealers. My three sons, Paul, Robert and David are sixth generation. But actually, the book dynasty very nearly died out in the 1940s.
My father, Isidoor, was a Dutch Jew and when World War 2 began, he was living in Rotterdam. Our family had one of the leading antiquarian book businesses of its time – we were known throughout Europe for being experts in rare and old books. But during the war, the city of Rotterdam was bombed, and the family lost everything – so many incredible treasures and collections. One such priceless collection was of rare, antique bibles said to be the most valuable in all of Europe.
My father lost his parents and four of his five siblings and their families in the gas chambers, or due to starvation and deprivation by the Nazis. He only survived because he was married to a beautiful blue-eyed gentile, my mother, Francina, who was not locked up by the Nazis.
She was allowed to visit my father in a detention camp before he was due to be transported to Auschwitz. She took me in my pram. She convinced the guards to allow her some time alone in the cell with my father unsupervised, and from beneath my pram mattress she produced a set of women’s clothing. Somehow, she walked him out of the prison dressed as a woman!
Dad’s best friend, a gentile carpenter, had already built him a secret compartment behind the fireplace in the flat we were renting after the Nazi’s took our seaside home. He hid there, whenever there was a knock at the door for the rest of the war.
When the war finished, my parents fled to England, and then, following my only surviving uncle, they caught one of the first commercial airline flights in a Lockheed Constellation to Sydney. Commercial flights were so new then that we made front page headlines!
In 1951, Dad was finally able to set up the next iteration of Berkelouw Books in King Street, Sydney. It flourished, and my brother and I came into the business as it expanded. We continued as experts in antiquarian books and collections. I’ve probably handled more than a million books over the years.
2 :: How did you come to be in Berrima?
In the mid-1970s, mail order sales were increasing, which meant we didn’t need to be in the city.
One day I was visiting my uncle in Berrima and bought this farm, Bendooley Estate, on a whim — not really knowing one end of a cow from the other! Luckily my wife was a country girl and we had a farm manager so I could still focus on books.
We built a fire-proof rare book building to house the collections and a huge barn to house the ‘overflow’ (the non-rare second-hand books that often come with the sale of large collections and deceased estates). The Book Barn became an institution, popular with people travelling between Sydney and Canberra.
I’ve been dealing in books here ever since. My sons have expanded the business and now, between us, I believe we own more than twenty bookstores.
3 :: The Berkelouw Book Barn is now so much more than books. Tell us about how the concept of Bendooley Estate evolved into what it is today.
Paul: Around 2011, when the Kindle was becoming very popular, book sellers all over the world were becoming nervous. We knew there would always be a market for rare and antiquarian books, and that was Dad’s area, but new books were a large part of our core business into the future. We were worried about sales trends and decided that we needed to diversify. Country weddings were becoming ever-more popular, and we thought, ‘why not’?
We undertook a huge renovation of the Book Barn and opened a restaurant that focused on sustainable produce and local providores.
Now, we still house a huge bookshop there, but in the evenings, the books are moved to the sides and become a beautiful backdrop for weddings and events. Our weddings became so popular that in 2018, we built ‘The Stables’, a second venue across the farm, with spectacular rural views.
We have also built luxury cottages, which are usually booked out by wedding guests and we have plans to expand the accommodation.
4 :: You’re also a wine producer, and your wine labels are quite unique. Can you tell us about that?
Like most booklovers, I love a good glass of wine. I also like a challenge, and since we had a farm, I decided to plant vines and work with some amazing local vignerons I knew. So far, we’ve produced some excellent wines and demand is growing. We’re opening a second, larger, cellar door complex in July, which includes a private dining room overlooking the vineyards.
Dad and I are also art lovers. In the Cellar Door we have huge original works by some amazing artists. We have beautiful works by Archibald finalist Zoe Young, who is a local.
Our centrepiece is the incredible commissioned work above the bar by the legendary John Olsen, who also happens to be a local. It’s a significant work featuring the sun, the vines and the Bendooley rooster – a nod to our signature coq au vin recipe.
It’s an integral part of the emerging Bendooley Estate story and John agreed to design our wine labels around it. He told me that wine labels should be distinctive and reflective of where the wine comes from, and that wine and food are an act of love and pleasure. So, that is what we have tried to do — to make the place beautiful, using the incredible local artists and artisans we have in the Southern Highlands to enhance and combine all the aspects of our offerings here — the art, books, wine, food. The spaces. Everything is harmonious.
When you think about our family traditions, they have always been about beautiful artefacts, and treasures. Beauty is really at the heart of everything we do.
So, that’s the story of Berkelouw Books, from humble beginnings half a world away now over 200 years old. How lucky are we to be part of this evolving family story by visiting this fab space in our very own backyard?!
