Hello and good morning from beautiful Bowral! Shad and I were so excited that we got to spend last weekend exploring the country town of Bowral, located just 2 hours away from Sydney CBD. Away from the hustle and bustle of city life, this town is a perfect getaway for those that don’t want to drive too far out and is a great alternative to other places like Blue Mountains. Because we live outside the Sydney city, it only took us 53 minutes to arrive in Bowral, and we were lucky enough for our weekend trip to be hosted by Peppers Craigieburn, a romantic country estate nestled right in the Southern Highlands, and just outside of Bowral city.
As soon as we arrived (very late at night as we we’re heading after work), we were greeted by a friendly receptionist who made time to show us where everything was and even offered to walk us up to our room. At Peppers, there aren’t any lifts up to the rooms but I love that it still had an olden charm at heart, and the highest floor only requires two flights of stairs. We stayed in the ‘Elms Balcony’ room which had a mix of modern and traditional décor, and featured (my favourite) double door French doors that opened out to a view of the expansive gardens and golf course owned by Peppers. At Peppers Craigieburn, we discovered that there are so many things to do within the grounds of the hotel. When we went off exploring after putting our luggage in the room, we found a billiards room, a piano in the foyer, tennis courts, and my ultimate favourite, guest lounges with open fireplaces where you can sit down in the evening and have a drink or two. It’s incredibly relaxing!
Because we arrived quite late, we decided to dine in the Hickory’s restaurant and bar the following night, after hearing a lot of great reviews online from guests and their dining experience. We we’re blown away by the presentation and taste of the food. I don’t normally eat scallops, but my scallop entrée easily beat any of the dishes I had that night! Peppers Craigieburn source ingredients locally, ensuring that they are at their freshest when serving guests. After a delicious entrée and main, Shad and I decided to have dessert and drinks by the fireplace where we read magazines and relaxed for the remainder of the night before heading back upstairs.
The next morning after checking out of Peppers, we decided to explore the town of Bowral, heading to the city centre for lunch, where we stumbled across a cute weekend market selling vintage goods. After that we headed to the Don Bradman museum and International cricket hall of fame to spend the afternoon (I highly recommend this to any cricket fans, we spent two hours there!).
The Southern Highlands is such a close drive from Sydney and still has a lot to offer that we unfortunately didn’t get to try like horse riding, hiking and vineyard tours. If it weren’t for the amazing experience we had with Peppers Craigieburn, we wouldn’t have known that such a little gem existed just outside of our city! As we we’re driving back we spoke of the little weekend getaway that we had and told ourselves we will definitely be back in the future.
Xoxo,
Eli
