Reviews & Guest's Comments

(published April 2002)

Driving west to the Blue Mountains my mother and I had expected scorched bush from the December fires, but there isn't any. Weaving along the Great Western Highway through the lower Blue Mountains (with the setting sun in our eyes) past Blaxland, Warrimoo and Faulconbridge, the bush is green. As we head further west the only perceivable changes are the trees turning a rusty orange and red for autumn. Our destination is Kanangra Lodge at Blackheath. It turns out to be a large, low-slung brick house set in a beautiful sloping garden trimmed with massive rhododendrons and pines. Step out of the car and that crisp mountain air laced with pine needles hits us. It feels good to arrive. The owner, Margaret Howlett, greets us at the door and ushers us into a wide hallway. Our room (and the three others, all with ensuites) runs off to the left while the dining/living area is to the right. Flock wallpaper is the first thing to strike you as you enter, and I love it. There's something about the velvety texture that demands you run your fingertips over it. And the rooms are big enough, the ceilings high enough, that the wallpaper doesn't overwhelm the space. Our bedroom, with its twin beds covered in floral doonas, is a good size with a heavily curtained window that offers glimpses of the garden. The house is quite dark and you tend to gravitate during the day to the sunroom, which is a lovely spot with large windows that look on to the sweeping green limbs of an enormous pine. The walls are painted a pale green and the trim is sparkling white. It makes a peaceful place to recover from the morning's mountain walks and the afternoon's shopping. Howlett is one of the best hosts I've come across at a bed and breakfast. Even with a face swollen from a painful root canal operation, she is efficient and gracious. Having moved to the mountains four years ago from Berry, she seems to have made it her business to know everything there is to know not just about Blackheath but the mountains in general. The place is well stocked with maps, books and magazines about the area and she has a handy folder with all local restaurant menus. All the obvious things that you imagine a B&B would offer, but surprisingly few do.

We arrive on Friday evening about 7 and Howlett has booked us in at Ashcrofts (a nice local restaurant) at 7.45. At her suggestion we walk to the restaurant from the house: it's a short, scenic stroll through suburban streets. The restaurant is BYO, which is fine with us because Blackheath has a wonderful bottle shop in the Blackheath Cellars. The food is good but the service is excellent - efficient and attentive. I highly recommend the steamed chocolate pudding. We arrive safely back at Kanangra and sleep very well that night.It's so silent I can hear myself breathing. Breakfast the next morning is good. Muesli, cereal, yogurt, fresh fruit, toast ... then eggs, bacon and tomato. All tasty and filling, so we head out later to the Fairfax Heritage Track walk. It runs off the end of Govetts Leap Road and we choose it for its lack of steps. It's a beautiful part of the world and from the various lookouts you can see Pulpit Rock and Wedding Veil Falls. We later drive to Pulpit Rock, a windy, wonderful spot that gives you one of the best views that I've seen of the sandstone cliffs around Horseshoe Falls. Much more interesting than the Three Sisters, and less crowded. Dinner that night is at Vulcans. Such great food in such a well-run restaurant. For $110 we have three courses each (no shared dessert here) and are very glad of the walk home. For Sunday breakfast the large dining room table is packed with young couples escaping to the mountains. Everyone is chatting amiably, trading stories about walks and shops and restaurants ........

On Holiday - Weekender (The Canberra Sunday Times - published June 2000) Susan Parsons finds a Blue Mountains getaway with sublime views and an easy style of life. When Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman were in Australia recently their getaway spot, with minders, was a villa at Blackheath in the Blue Mountains. No wonder. The village has a gentle charm with antique shops and historic buildings, landscapes designed by master gardener Peter Sorensen and the Bacchante Rhododendron Gardens. From Canberra, the trip takes about four hours via fertile farmland around Mulgoa. We stopped for late lunch at the Conservation Hut Cafe at Wentworth Falls. There was a queue for tables, all of which have exceptional views of the Jamison Valley. The hut cafe is also the information centre for Valley of the Waters bushwalks. At Blackheath the main road ends at Govett's Leap. The National Gallery of Australia recently acquired Eugene von Guerard's 1873 oil painting of this "sublime landscape" for $1.32 million. From Govett's Leap Lookout, the visitor can gaze in awe upon the real thing - Horseshoe and Bridal Veil Falls, a sliver of silver, and the exhilarating view across shadowed and sunset-lit Grose Valley to ravines and ridges beyond. From the National Parks and Wildlife visitor's centre close by, we ambled along Fairfax Heritage Trail, a wheelchair accessible track that leads through open bushland brightened with winter-flowering wattles, banksias, cone flowers and mountain devils. It was six years since I had stayed at Kanangra Lodge Bed & Breakfast in Blackheath. The new owner Margaret Howlett, greeted us to the 1930's home with afternoon tea served in an informal sitting room with a wood fire. Classical music played. We discussed repeat bookings and wedding groups, which made up a number of her recent guests. A couple, bushwalkers from New Zealand, checked in and were served sherry in a formal lounge room with open fire. A family of six arrived from Singapore and, from the sunroom, they watched rosella parrots feeding in the garden. The back garden faces Blackheath Golf Course and the fringe of the Blue Mountains National Park. We were shown to one of four spacious double bedrooms, all ensuite or with private bathroom, to unpack and change for dinner. Kanangra Lodge keeps a file on local restaurants and their menus, including the exceptional Cleopatra. The locals eat early and we join them at Vulcans, the former town bakery, now hosted by great chef Phillip Searle and his partner Barry Ross. Glazed duckling sausage, aromatic pot-roasted veal and legendary chequer-board ice-cream made a memorable meal accompanied by a BYO bottle of Excelsior Peak Pinot Noir 1994, a high country wine from Tumbarumba, (Vulcans only trades on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays for lunch and dinner. Bookings are essential.) We returned to Kanangra Lodge for coffee from the guests' kitchenette, central heating, electric blankets and sleep. At daybreak, huge snowflakes were falling from a grey sky, to the amazement of the travellers from Singapore. Silver-service breakfast was served in an elegant dining room. A side table was set with bowls of poached pears and fresh passionfruit, stewed rhubarb and apple, juices, cereals (including muesli mixed in-house), fruit jams from Bilpin and artisan breads made with organic flour from Hominy Bakery in Katoomba and famous sourdough from Quintons artisan bakery in Leura. There was Caffe Bianchi plunger coffee from Leichhardt, or tea. The quince jelly was a speciality made by Richard, a local chef, who presented it to Mragaret Howlett in exchange for Saffron Milk Caps and other mushrooms collected beneath pine trees in the garden. Mid-morning we went for a stroll in the landscaped grounds, which are planted with notable trees, including European larches, rhododendrons, maples and massed bulbs. It was time to head off to Logan Brae apple orchards at Shipley nearby, and then drive down from Blackheath on the escarpment through towering eucalypt forests and Coachwood Glen nature trail to Megalong Valley. There, cattle graze, bower birds call, horse riding is a popular holiday activity and, for three generations, the best ever scones have been served in the tea Rooms.