Wine tastings, elegant eating places, 3 nights in your personal personal retreat, scorching air balloon rides and even a calming {couples} therapeutic massage in your room for a romantic keep within the Hunter Valley! Right here’s your probability to win this wonderful expertise for 2.
Working with our buddies at Bimbadgen, we’ve put collectively a tremendous expertise that offers you so lots of the finest bits of the Hunter Valley and not one of the stress of organising it.
Christina and I’ve been visiting the Hunter and its wonderful vineyards for years and we’re nonetheless discovering issues about it. There at all times appears to be a brand new vineyard to seek out—or one which’s one way or the other managed to evade our radar.
New lodging choices additionally discover us enthusiastic about our subsequent journey to NSW’s finest wine area and, in fact, there are at all times new locations to eat, and issues to see and do right here.
However our most up-to-date journey to the Hunter Valley has actually super-charged our love of the area. Right here’s what we acquired as much as—and amazingly, what you can even do due to this unbelievably thrilling prize that Bimbadgen are providing for the Month Of Love!
The Prize—there are two up for grabs!
Right here’s what’s included on this wonderful prize valued at $3,000:
Clicking every component will take you all the way down to the itinerary in additional element.
— THREE nights at Bimbadgen’s model new Lane Retreat in a luxurious studio lodge
— Breakfast provisions offered
— Sizzling air balloon experience over the vineyards and breakfast
— Enjoyable one-hour {couples} therapeutic massage in your retreat
— Lunch or dinner at Bimbadgen with wood-fire pizzas and wine
— Wine-tasting expertise at Bimbadgen cellar door
— Opulent picnic one lunchtime
— Wine-tasting at Emma’s Cottage, Bimbadgen’s Alter ego
— Bespoke fine-dining expertise (lunch or dinner) at award-winning Esca Restaurant
— Late check-out from Lane Retreat
You may choose what you do every day and tailor your expertise nonetheless you need. This complete expertise is for 2 folks per prize.
We’ve given you an concept of how one can match every part in under—it’s necessary to recollect the balloon experience is an early begin and weather-dependant.
How To Enter The Competitors:
Try our fast video of our time at Lane Retreat and Bimbadgen within the Hunter Valley:
The Most Romantic Lengthy Weekend In The Hunter Valley
The simple two-hour drive from Sydney as much as the Hunter is at all times a pleasure, and this time is not any totally different.
Christina and I really feel the load of life’s stresses fall from our shoulders as we see the panorama change from busy streets and high-rises to fields and bushes, and the Damaged Again Mountain Vary develop taller on the horizon.
Our retreat, trying glossy but cosy on the sweeping property on Palmers Lane, is prepared for us to verify in. Overlooking the very vines that go into a few of Bimbadgen’s wines, the retreat’s balcony guarantees to be a nice place to calm down with a sundowner collectively.
Inside, the massive cozy mattress and massive lavatory with a twin bathe, and we pop the cork on the bottle of chilled Bimbadgen glowing that’s ready for us.
In-room remedy from Hunter Valley Cellular Therapeutic massage
Earlier than lengthy there’s a knock on the door and the following deal with for our keep arrives: Yvie and Millie from the Hunter Valley Cellular Therapeutic massage Firm. They’re right here to pamper us with an hour-long stress-free rub-down, soothing drained muscle mass and stretching us out after our drive.
There’s loads of room within the retreat for his or her two fold-out tables and shortly Christina and I are luxuriating beneath the intelligent mild arms of our masseuses.
Yvie and Millie are cautious to ask us the form of therapeutic massage we’d like and the strain we want. The thought for at the moment is leisure, although Yvie can be educated as a sports activities remedy strategies too.
An hour later, feeling like clouds are beneath our ft, we glance about us and contemplate dinner choices.
Wooden-fire pizza at Bimbadgen
It’s a fast five-minute drive to Bimbadgen from the Lane Retreat. Down within the Tuscan-inspired courtyard of the vineyard, we discover a desk and revel in excellent wood-fired pizzas from the large clay oven.
My pepperoni pizza is wealthy and generously topped, and the crust is crunchy but delicate—completely cooked. Christina’s pork and fennel pizza, completed with rocket leaves, is succulent and engaging too, caramelised onion and grilled capsicum bringing an additional sweetness to this glorious pizza.
This can be a fashionable venue, particularly through the weekend when the venue has stay music enjoying, so reserving a desk is a good suggestion. It’s also possible to come right here for lunch and benefit from the views out over the grape vines and see the vineyard and distillery in motion.
We make our manner again to the romantic seclusion of our retreat for a blissful night time’s sleep.
This morning we benefit from the breakfast provisions that employees from the retreat’s retailer, The Pantry, left us final night time at turn-down: crunchy granola and creamy yoghurt, and a scrumptious breakfast quiche.
There’s additionally recent juice within the fridge and a pod machine for espresso, although The Pantry up the lane does glorious barista coffees too.
Picnic by the vines
After a morning of exploring across the Hunter Valley, we’re again at The Lane Retreat for lunch: a picnic offered by Bimbadgen, together with roast rooster, olives, recent fruit and even a blanket and a bottle of bubbles!
At first we contemplate having our picnic by the pool, an oasis-like centre level with Palm Springs vibes, however as a substitute we go for just a little spot close to our retreat subsequent to the vines of Palmers Lane winery.
Bimbadgen Wine Tasting Expertise
After our lunch, we’re again at Bimbadgen for a wine tasting. We sit searching over the winery from the gorgeous cellar door and are lead by means of the Signature Tasting Expertise that includes eight of Bimbadgen’s finest wines.
We even have the chance to style the gin and vodka from their distillery Night time Service provider, which can be made on website.
Making our manner again to our retreat, we promise ourselves a light-weight dinner—we nonetheless have meals from the beneficiant picnic—an early night time. Tomorrow begins at 3.30am!
Sizzling air ballooning with Past Ballooning
It’s nonetheless darkish when our alarm goes off. A fast bathe and a shot from the espresso machine, and we’re leaving Palmers Lane for Rydges Resort Hunter Valley 10 minutes down the street. We verify in then climb aboard minibuses to our launch website for probably the most wonderful expertise: a scorching air balloon experience over the Hunter Valley.
Rising up above the bushes and gliding silently by means of the daybreak air, we see the solar gleam its first mild over the Damaged Again Vary, turning the rows of vines golden, highlighting kangaroos bouncing by means of fields and making a rainbow excessive within the clouds subsequent to us.
Again on the bottom, we head again to the Rydges for breakfast and even a cheeky glass of Bimbadgen glowing.
Wine-Tasting Expertise—Alter Wines at Emma’s Cottage
Alter Wines, as in Bimbadgen’s ‘alter-ego’, a brand new to the Bimbadgen household. Set down a fairly lane off Wilderness Drive in Lovedale, Emma’s Cottage is a stupendous spot. In addition to its cellar door bar and seating, this vineyard additionally has a stunning boutique to buy in.
It’s the right lunch spot for us as we get pleasure from a tasting of their wine vary together with a beneficiant cheese and charcuterie board.
Dinner at Esca Restaurant
This night is the crowning occasion we’ve been trying ahead to probably the most: dinner at Esca, one of the crucial admired eating places within the area and the pleasure of Bimbadgen.
Though there may be an a la cart menu, we’re handled to a six-course journey by means of not solely a few of Esca’s finest dishes, but in addition Bimbadgen’s most interesting wines.
I don’t need to give an excessive amount of away, so I’ll simply say this menu is excellent. From the house-made butter, focaccia and Shiraz-tinged pink salt to the late-harvest Semillon that’s paired with Esca’s summer time stone fruits, brown butter yoghurt and spiced hazelnut dessert, it’s all beautiful.
We get up expectedly late this morning after such a giant day yesterday. However that’s okay. We don’t have to take a look at till 11am, which provides us time to get pleasure from our retreat within the morning mild and actually have a final dip within the pool earlier than we depart.
Our drive again to Sydney is a reluctant one, seeing the vineyards and mountains recede behind us, swapping them as soon as once more for the streets and towers of the busy metropolis. However lately within the Hunter Valley will stick with us endlessly.
