Over The Mountain
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday March 25, 2000
Anthony Dennis spends a few days in the country exploring the district of Orange.
THERE'S another rural challenge looming. It doesn't involve droughts, floods, bank closures or what to wear to meet the Queen. It involves tourism and how to attract more big-spending city dwellers to stay longer to bolster flagging economies.
Towns more than three hours from Sydney face the challenge of converting the weekend away into the long weekend or even the week away.
At about four hours from Sydney, a trip to Orange means a long drive across the Blue Mountains, in traffic, on Friday night with another one to return on Sunday evening, all in the name of creating a relaxed weekend away.
But Orange is one of many parts of rural NSW that have evolved to a stage where you can happily construct a whole week travelling around the region eating, sleeping and drinking.
Orange isn't just Orange. It's rather an entire district which allows you to explore interesting, old-fashioned towns such as Canowindra, Blayney, Eugowra and Millthorpe. It's also emerged in recent years as a significant wine-growing region, with Bloodwood Wines, Canobolas Smith and Brangayne winning critical acclaim. However, most of the wineries in the Orange district are still too small to offer walk-up cellars. Visitors must book ahead.
As well as beautiful wines, Orange boasts some of the most beautiful settings for wineries in Australia, framed, as it is, by the imposing Mount Canobolas, reputedly the highest point between there and Madagascar, off Africa, in the Indian Ocean.
The wineries have been joined in the past few years by Selkirks, named NSW's best country restaurant in the Herald's 2000 Good Food Guide, and some excellent bed and breakfasts, such as Rosebank at Millthorpe, a small town near Orange, the Magistrate's House at Cotehele, and Bed of Roses Fine Country Accommodation at Orange.
Bed of Roses is located on a spectacular property, Kyalla Park, on the outskirts of town. It's the sort of place you could easily escape to for a week, using it as a base from which to explore the local district. Indeed, if regional centres such as Orange are to prosper they will need to depend much less on traditional sources of income from the land and diversify into tourism, which doesn't mean just whacking an extra spa into one of the rooms at the local motor inn.
At Bed of Roses there is a choice of accommodation from the extensively restored homestead with magnificent views of the surrounding countryside, and a garden and artificial lake are a feature of the property. On this occasion, a first visit, we chose Wild Rose Cottage. It's situated a short walk from the homestead, but removed enough to promote privacy; perfect for one or more couples or even a couple of colleagues in town on business, but content to share the same space.
The cottage, a classic, unpretentious, utilitarian country affair, is surrounded by tall eucalypt trees and a rose garden. It's a bit unprepossessing on the outside, but on the inside it's another matter entirely. It has two bedrooms, one with a queen-size bed and the other with a double-bed. Between both bedrooms is a comfortable sitting room with a television set, which you may or may not want to activate, and a log fire you will want to activate on Orange's famously chilly winter nights.
What's more, there's a well-equipped kitchen with a fridge stocked with bacon, farm-fresh eggs, fresh fruits, cereals, bread and orange juice for a generous, though self-catered breakfast. There's also plunger coffee, which means you don't have to head out for breakfast, or even up to the main homestead. The cottage isn't luxurious, but it's eminently comfortable.
One of the most appealing aspects of Wild Rose Cottage is that it's refreshingly, chintz-free. It screams country right down to its fly-screens. The tastefully-decorated rooms in the main homestead, a sturdy building with a commanding and dominant position on the property, again show restraint and look to be at least as comfortable as those in the cottage. One of the rooms, the Veranda Suite, has a private sitting room and its own entrance.
Guests in the homestead essentially have the freedom of the house including access to the large living room and a dining room where dinner can be served on request.
Unfortunately, and somewhat inexplicably for an establishment as good as this, the towels were scratchy. It's a gripe that can seem trifling at first, but one that becomes annoying if staying longer than a night.
Many parts of rural Australia have made an excellent start in establishing themselves as destinations in their own right. With places such as Bed of Roses, and the other B&Bs mentioned, Orange is well on its way to becoming a town - and a district - that's going to tempt city slickers to cross the Blue Mountains.
Establishments featured in Weekends Away are visited anonymously by Herald writers who pay their own way. We recognise that different establishments cater for different tastes and that they should be judged by how well they cater for the market they seek to serve.
visitors' book
Where: Bed of Roses Fine Country Accommodation, Kyalla Park, Forbes Road, Orange NSW, 2800; phone (02) 6362 6946, fax (02) 6361 7492; email dee_napier @bigfoot.com
Getting there: Orange is about four hours west of Sydney. Bed of Roses Fine Country Accommodation is less than 10 minutes from the centre of Orange. From Sydney, pass through the town and turn right into the Mitchell Highway and then left up the Forbes Road.
Prices: From $120 a double, Monday to Thursday, in either homestead or cottage, to $150 a double Friday, Saturday and Sunday. A two-night weekend package in either the homestead or the cottage costs $270 a double. Singles rates available.
Rooms next weekend: Yes.
Wheelchair access: Yes.
Children: No.
Smoking: No.
Credit cards: No.
Pluses: Idyllic country setting.
Minuses: The scratchy towels.
Rating: 171/2/20 (half a point off for the scratchy towels).
19-20 Outstanding. Can we move in?
17-18 Great.
15-16 Very good. We'd do it again.
13-14 Good. Comfortable, well-run.
10-12 Adequate.
1-9 Stay at home.
Also in the area
Cotehele House
Where: 177 Anson Street, Orange, NSW, 2800; phone (02) 6361 2520, fax (02) 6361 8635.
Type: Bed and breakfast.
Tariff: From $130 a double per night with breakfast; $90 a single.
Built in 1878 as a town house, it has been restored to its former glory and converted to a stylish, comfortable B&B. The stables have become two bedrooms, clad with hand-cut ironbark and fitted with timber and Roman tiled floors, new distressed pine furniture, a wrought-iron bed and a spa bath. The hearty breakfasts include locally produced bottled jams and fresh fruit.
Rating: 16 (Reviewed November 1998)
Rosebank Guest House
Where: 40 Victoria Street, Millthorpe, NSW 2798; phone (02) 6366 3191.
Type: Guesthouse.
Tariff: $140 for a double per night with breakfast on weekends; $120 midweek.
The mustard-coloured, heritage-listed Bank of NSW building, built in 1902, is once again a local landmark in Millthorpe.
Today the stunning banking chamber is the guests' living room (where a big dark-chocolate leather lounge suite dominates the room), while the old vault is a wine cellar. Colourful, beautifully rendered original plans of the bank adorn the walls.
Rating: 17 (Reviewed May 1998)
Nyrang Homestead
Where: Peabody Road, Cudal via Molong, NSW 2866; phone (02) 6364 2160 or 0418 449 768, fax (02) 6364 2063.
Type: Bed and breakfast
Tariff: $115 a double per night with breakfast.
This huge asymmetrical bungalow was hand-carved in 1902 out of the bluestone quarried by Italian craftsmen from the surrounding soil. A wonderful sense of space and old-world charm remains through the wide verandas, thick walls, high-ceilinged rooms and corridors wide enough to house a family of 10. There are six double rooms (one has an ensuite; the other five share three bathrooms), each tastefully fitted out with king-size beds.
Rating: 15 (Reviewed May 1999)
© 2000 Sydney Morning Herald
