How about the gift of an up close and personal encounter with an 800 kilogram bison?

Morpeth couple Sarah-Jane and Luke Dunford are the owners of Hunter Valley Bison - a company that gives people the opportunity to observe, pat and feed these little-known of brutes.

The couple purchased their 85 acre property in Morpeth about four years ago.

Since, they have started to breed bison, built a house (completely off-grid) and planted three acres of Leptospermum trees (for Manuka honey production) and Finger Lime shrubs which are currently ready for their first harvest.

Their 10-year plan is to breed the bison for meat production but right now they are happy to introduce their pets, native to America, to the locals.

The bison experience gift vouchers can be purchased through their Hunter Valley Bison Facebook page.

In fact the couple are becoming somewhat national celebrities with the ABC charting their 'tree change' and quirky agricultural methods.

Dream Gardens has been documenting Sarah-Jane and Luke's progress with their house, garden and bison breeding. The show follows the evolution of their garden from design through construction to the spectacular end results.

It also covers the Dunford's generosity allowing couples, whose wedding plans were dashed during the COVID pandemic, to wed at no cost on their property with the bison looking on.

Since introducing bison to Morpeth the couple have lived through the drought, some weeks having to feed their herd birdseed just to keep them alive. They also helped other struggling farmers with free agistment of cattle on the greener pastures. The episode is expected to air next year.

But back to the bison: Sarah-Jane knows of only two other farms in NSW - one in Casino, the other in Dubbo - who have bison. The American and European bison are the largest surviving terrestrial animals in North America and Europe. They are broad and muscular with shaggy coats. Adults grow up to two metres, run at 65km and jump two metres from standing.

"They really do have a personality," Sarah-Jane said. "One of our males starts to get a bit over it at the end of the day if we have had too many visitors and will sit with his back to them," she said. "Sometimes the females get a bit precious and start to get cranky if things aren't going their way."

"We want to educate people on what bison are. People are fascinated by them, we love them, and it's nice to have people meeting them and loving them too. We have trained them to come up to us and eat treats, and it's nice for kids to get up close and feed them. When they run towards you, you feel the rumbling in the ground."

With bison rare in Australia, the Dunfords have struggled to find a vet with knowledge of them. "We rely on breeders in the US for any concerns we have about our herd," Sarah-Jane said.