Wine country weekender
Stay h e r e . / Shor t & swee t_ New S ou th Wales
Wine country weekender Lucy Jones and a group of 10 old friends celebrated a 30 th birthday in style at a high-end holiday rental, Mudgee’s Trelawney Farm.
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country comfort The perfectly styled and supremely picturesque Trelawney Farm. 162
t is a sobering realisation that your closest group of friends would now rather celebrate a landmark birthday with a quick break in wine country instead of dancing on tables til dawn – but there we were. My best friend was turning 30 and among this group of girls I have known since high school we are now one married, one engaged, one pregnant and one trying (though none of these apply to me). We wanted a weekend away where we could drink wine, play board games and cook delicious meals. Cue Mudgee and Trelawney Farm. Mudgee, like much of the Central West, has undergone something of a transformation. It’s still a charming country town where local stores and stately pubs line the main street, but there are also more than 35 cellar doors and a funky little brewery. It’s around three and a half hours northwest of Sydney, which puts it just slightly further than the Hunter Valley and may account for the noticeable absence of the crowds and minibuses that can be found there most weekends. We set off on a Friday morning, with me behind the wheel of a new Infiniti FX four wheel drive – handy for chauffeuring my friend’s two-metre tall boyfriend and for stashing the (inevitable) cases of wine in the boot. >>
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Stay h e r e . / Shor t & swee t_ New S ou th Wales
Trelawney Farm is just outside of Mudgee, along narrow country roads lined with vineyards and little girls on ponies. It’s as if Martha Stewart came to style a farmhouse – all black painted floorboards, pastel bunting, chalkboard walls and fluffy white linen. The house is split into two halves (the Coach House and Barn End Cottage), which can be locked off if you’re staying with a smaller group. This means that there are two of everything – two bathrooms, two living areas and two kitchens – as well as five bedrooms, a library, wrap around verandah, outdoor dining table, a pizza oven in the garden and an outdoor bathtub (which, sadly, it was too cold to use). The children’s bedroom is ridiculously charming – sweet little twin beds and retro toys like a rocking horse and a dollhouse. The main living area is also spacious enough
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that you can push back the couches and roll up the rug for an impromptu dance floor/karaoke studio for up to 10 people, should the mood strike you… The early arrivals sat on the front verandah with a glass of champagne as the sun went down. As our friends slowly dribbled in from Sydney over the course of Friday evening, we lit the fires, popped the corks and played highly contested rounds of Up Words. There were best laid plans for an early night, but some things never change and I have a dim recollection of pouring myself into a supremely comfortable bed somewhere north of 1am. Spring mornings in Mudgee are cold, but spring days are sparkling and warm. After an al fresco breakfast of mimosas and birthday sponge cake (baked fresh by the cute-as-a-button bakery in town) we
Shor t & swee t_New Sou th Wales / stay h e r e .
Above: The lounge room in the Barn End Cottage side of Trelawney Farm. Opposite page Clockwise from top: The Coach House side offers the smaller of the two kitchens: There are freestanding clawfoot baths in both bathrooms; Cellar door at Lowe Wines; Table service at Lowe.
piled into the cars and headed to Lowe Wines, a small certified organic winery just north of town. It has one of the prettiest and most civilised cellar doors I’ve ever been to – your group takes a seat at one of the outdoor tables and they bring the wine to you. The proprietor himself, David Lowe, even came out to talk us through a few of the bottles. We could have sat there all day, sampling more wine and eating tasting platters of local delicacies – but there were other grapes calling. Our convoy looped back, stopping off at Huntington Estate (buy the cabernet sauvignon) and Blue Wren (buy the rosé); these are two of the region’s most popular cellar doors but we were still almost the only visitors. All of Mudgee has a delightfully undiscovered feel, like we are the only people who know about the place.
www.luxurytravelmag.com.au
It’s as if Martha Stewart came to style a farmhouse – all black painted floorboards, pastel bunting...
Our final stop for the day was the Mudgee Brewing Company. The microbrewery brews a dozen signature beers, ranging from light to dark with a few specialties (like rye beer) thrown in along the way. We returned to our farmhouse suitably merry. Insider tip: the outdoor pizza oven at Trelawney Farm will take anywhere from eight to 24 hours to reach the required temperature. We had planned to cook pizzas, but after a couple of (hungry) hours we opted for the two regular ovens inside. It wasn’t a total loss – the boys had a fun time making fire and the oven pizzas
www.luxurytravelmag.com.au
were still delicious. We tested the pizza oven as we were about to leave the following morning – it was perfect. Another night of red wine and singalongs left a few of us bleary eyed before departure (surely the hangovers weren’t this bad 10 years ago?) and we climbed into the cars in search of coffee and McMuffins. It would be easy to spend a week at Trelawney Farm – exploring the Mudgee countryside, drinking wine by the fire, reading on the sunny verandah. And if weekends like this are what it means to be getting older, then it can’t be all bad.
s tay i n g t h e r e Trelawney Farm sleeps up to 10 people and rates start from A$2,850 for Friday and Saturday night including cleaning. trelawneyfarm.com
Getting there Virgin Australia flies to Sydney from Australian capital cities and most major centres. Economy fares start from A$79 one way and business class fares (available on some routes) from A$529 one way. virginaustralia.com Mudgee is a three and a half hour drive northwest of Sydney. Alternatively, Brindabella Airlines flies from Sydney to Mudgee twice daily with economy fares starting from A$174 one way. The flight takes just under one hour. brindabellaairlines.com.au
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Wine country weekender Lucy Jones and a group of 10 old friends celebrated a 30 th birthday in style at a high-end holiday rental, Mudgee’s Trelawney Farm.
I
country comfort The perfectly styled and supremely picturesque Trelawney Farm. 162
t is a sobering realisation that your closest group of friends would now rather celebrate a landmark birthday with a quick break in wine country instead of dancing on tables til dawn – but there we were. My best friend was turning 30 and among this group of girls I have known since high school we are now one married, one engaged, one pregnant and one trying (though none of these apply to me). We wanted a weekend away where we could drink wine, play board games and cook delicious meals. Cue Mudgee and Trelawney Farm. Mudgee, like much of the Central West, has undergone something of a transformation. It’s still a charming country town where local stores and stately pubs line the main street, but there are also more than 35 cellar doors and a funky little brewery. It’s around three and a half hours northwest of Sydney, which puts it just slightly further than the Hunter Valley and may account for the noticeable absence of the crowds and minibuses that can be found there most weekends. We set off on a Friday morning, with me behind the wheel of a new Infiniti FX four wheel drive – handy for chauffeuring my friend’s two-metre tall boyfriend and for stashing the (inevitable) cases of wine in the boot. >>
163
Stay h e r e . / Shor t & swee t_ New S ou th Wales
Trelawney Farm is just outside of Mudgee, along narrow country roads lined with vineyards and little girls on ponies. It’s as if Martha Stewart came to style a farmhouse – all black painted floorboards, pastel bunting, chalkboard walls and fluffy white linen. The house is split into two halves (the Coach House and Barn End Cottage), which can be locked off if you’re staying with a smaller group. This means that there are two of everything – two bathrooms, two living areas and two kitchens – as well as five bedrooms, a library, wrap around verandah, outdoor dining table, a pizza oven in the garden and an outdoor bathtub (which, sadly, it was too cold to use). The children’s bedroom is ridiculously charming – sweet little twin beds and retro toys like a rocking horse and a dollhouse. The main living area is also spacious enough
164
that you can push back the couches and roll up the rug for an impromptu dance floor/karaoke studio for up to 10 people, should the mood strike you… The early arrivals sat on the front verandah with a glass of champagne as the sun went down. As our friends slowly dribbled in from Sydney over the course of Friday evening, we lit the fires, popped the corks and played highly contested rounds of Up Words. There were best laid plans for an early night, but some things never change and I have a dim recollection of pouring myself into a supremely comfortable bed somewhere north of 1am. Spring mornings in Mudgee are cold, but spring days are sparkling and warm. After an al fresco breakfast of mimosas and birthday sponge cake (baked fresh by the cute-as-a-button bakery in town) we
Shor t & swee t_New Sou th Wales / stay h e r e .
Above: The lounge room in the Barn End Cottage side of Trelawney Farm. Opposite page Clockwise from top: The Coach House side offers the smaller of the two kitchens: There are freestanding clawfoot baths in both bathrooms; Cellar door at Lowe Wines; Table service at Lowe.
piled into the cars and headed to Lowe Wines, a small certified organic winery just north of town. It has one of the prettiest and most civilised cellar doors I’ve ever been to – your group takes a seat at one of the outdoor tables and they bring the wine to you. The proprietor himself, David Lowe, even came out to talk us through a few of the bottles. We could have sat there all day, sampling more wine and eating tasting platters of local delicacies – but there were other grapes calling. Our convoy looped back, stopping off at Huntington Estate (buy the cabernet sauvignon) and Blue Wren (buy the rosé); these are two of the region’s most popular cellar doors but we were still almost the only visitors. All of Mudgee has a delightfully undiscovered feel, like we are the only people who know about the place.
www.luxurytravelmag.com.au
It’s as if Martha Stewart came to style a farmhouse – all black painted floorboards, pastel bunting...
Our final stop for the day was the Mudgee Brewing Company. The microbrewery brews a dozen signature beers, ranging from light to dark with a few specialties (like rye beer) thrown in along the way. We returned to our farmhouse suitably merry. Insider tip: the outdoor pizza oven at Trelawney Farm will take anywhere from eight to 24 hours to reach the required temperature. We had planned to cook pizzas, but after a couple of (hungry) hours we opted for the two regular ovens inside. It wasn’t a total loss – the boys had a fun time making fire and the oven pizzas
www.luxurytravelmag.com.au
were still delicious. We tested the pizza oven as we were about to leave the following morning – it was perfect. Another night of red wine and singalongs left a few of us bleary eyed before departure (surely the hangovers weren’t this bad 10 years ago?) and we climbed into the cars in search of coffee and McMuffins. It would be easy to spend a week at Trelawney Farm – exploring the Mudgee countryside, drinking wine by the fire, reading on the sunny verandah. And if weekends like this are what it means to be getting older, then it can’t be all bad.
s tay i n g t h e r e Trelawney Farm sleeps up to 10 people and rates start from A$2,850 for Friday and Saturday night including cleaning. trelawneyfarm.com
Getting there Virgin Australia flies to Sydney from Australian capital cities and most major centres. Economy fares start from A$79 one way and business class fares (available on some routes) from A$529 one way. virginaustralia.com Mudgee is a three and a half hour drive northwest of Sydney. Alternatively, Brindabella Airlines flies from Sydney to Mudgee twice daily with economy fares starting from A$174 one way. The flight takes just under one hour. brindabellaairlines.com.au
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