Weekend Away: Burrawang

Natasha Wallace is stoked by the vista available at Burrawang.

THE SETTING

The view doesn't get more romantic than the one from the red rose-strewn verandah of this beautiful home in the southern highlands just outside the quaint village of Burrawang. Accessed via a tree-lined dirt road, it has a 360-degree vista of rolling green hills and mist-shrouded mountains (well, at least on a winter's morning). A track from the back of the home through an orchard and olive grove leads to a paddock below with a horse and alpacas.

THE SPACE

Built from Bundanoon sandstone and Canadian cedar, the rambling, two-storey home set on 44 hectares has two separate wings with two bedrooms in each (it sleeps 14), three bathrooms (I lost count of the toilets) and ample room for the kids to run about, inside and out. Every bedroom boasts a jaw-dropping view from its white-shuttered window and we spend quite some time watching Chile the horse and the alpaca Irish dancing in the paddock while a pair of cheeky cattle dogs muster them for fun. The downstairs living area has a modern, large kitchen with loads of crockery and glassware and a dining area with a long wooden table and bench seats, which would easily accommodate two or three families. Down the end of the driveway is a large grassed play area for the kids with a sandpit, slide and climbing gym.

MOD CONS

The owners have been generous with appliances and condiments in the kitchen and there is also a fully equipped laundry. We stoke up the fire each evening in the formal lounge, a spacious room with a chandelier hanging from its cathedral ceiling, and make use of the heaters in every room - and the electric blankets, for that matter (it is 750 metres above sea level).

COMFORT FACTOR

Undoubtedly, the wow factor is a claw-foot bath in a pretty, old-fashioned bathroom with stunning pastoral views from the window. But what strikes me most is the abundance of living space - there is a separate enclosed winter sunroom with glass doors off to the side of the verandah with comfy couches and magazines, as well as a large, grassed outdoor courtyard with a slide and mini climbing gym off the kitchen area (yes, another one) and a separate family room with a TV. I find myself wondering where to sit, but the deck lounges on the wide verandah are hardest to resist. Bedroom furnishings, mostly old wooden drawers and cupboards, could use an update.