In the past 10 months we have had 3 holidays in Stanthorpe. We just LOVE the area. It's close enough to home (just under 3 hours from our place) and far enough to away to feel "away" from it all.
We stumbled across
grice lane cottage on
stayz , a website we regularly use when looking for holiday accommodation.
We have managed the 3 times we have stayed to get an awesome deal, especially if staying mid week and "off peak".
The cottage is fully self contained and is really a home away from home. It has 3 bedrooms, comfortably sleeping 6. The bedrooms are comfortable with lovely beds and gorgeous crisp linen. The kitchen is well appointed and has everything you need to cook for the family. The pantry and fridge is stocked with all basic supplies which you are welcome to use. The rule is: you finish it then you replace it. There is also a great BBQ and outdoor setting outside.
We love the cottage for our family as it has bikes on the 40acre property plus a climbing frame and swing set. Our family loves exploring the property on foot and bikes. Inside there is also toys, books and DVD's for all the family to enjoy plus the cottage comes with high chair and port cot for those with littlies. A plus not to have to drag these along.
Some of the things to do in Stanthorpe that we ave discovered and enjoyed on one of our trips:
Bush walking and swimming holes :
Giraween National Park
We have done a couple of the shorter walks here and just gone for a stroll to paddle in the swimming holes when we are their in summer.
This winter we did the pyramid walk which is quite challenging but very rewarding. Medium fitness required, good walking shoes with grip. Lots of stairs! and some scrambling required. The view from the top is amazing and this walk is well worth the effort, however I don't think I would attempt it in the warmer months. The granite rocks at Giraween can get very hot as they can also get very slippery in wet.
Donneleys Castle
We did a couple of the small walks here. One to a lookout with beautiful views. A nice easy walk for the family.
We also did the cave walk, which the kids loved. Our children are climbers and love all the granite rocks to climb!
The bramble patch ! Where do I start? We never visit Stanthorpe without a visit here. We plan our whole day around having afternoon tea at this place. It' s a beautiful berry farm with a gorgeous shop and eatery. They sell hot and cold drinks and about 5 dessert items all based around their delicious berry products. The shop has tastings and sales of jams, coulis and sauces. Hubby and I always get the same thing here, the ice burgerer. It is an amazing chocolate sponge cake filled with gorgeous berry sorbet and ice cream drizzled with berry coulis and dusted with icing sugar. You must make sure you have a light lunch prior to fit this one in! The coffee here is also devine.
They do children's sized portions of all the desserts too, which is nice.
Felsburg Winery and Cafe As above this is one of the places that we never come to Stanthorpe and not eat here once. We think that for family friendly, value for money this is the place to go. It is set up high on a hill with gorgeous views. It has a casual, relaxed atmosphere and the owners and staff are laid back and friendly. They have high chairs, kids menus and a small area for young children with a few toys.
The menu is simple with not a huge variety of choices but we find sharing a couple of their very yummy pizzas and a bow of chips is enough for our family. With food and drinks we never spend more than $50 on lunch. It's the cellar door, you need to watch out for (lol) while we wait for our food to be made we taste some of the felsburg wines and port (which is quite nice) and end up taking a glass back to the table to have with lunch.
Heavenly Chocolate As the name suggests, this place is devine. It is a cute little humble shop positioned on the main strip when heading to Giraween National park. The way we tackled this one was to go for our walk and then treat ourselves on the way back with a hot chocolate ( which is AMAZING) or iced coffee /chocolate here is also reaaaaaalllllly good! The kids have a portion of money each which they can spend on treats and the adults too. They sell the yummiest rocky road I have ever tried. IT has the yummy(real) jelly and marshmallow in it which to me is how rocky road should be.
The cafe doesn't sell food(just amazing drinks) but is set out in the gardens with old style tables and chairs looking out at the gorgeous land and chickens ( which the kids love to look at and feed grass to)
There are cottages (wisteria cottages) that you can stay at, a little pricey but they are well appointed and come with the nice extras of a home made brekky basket (with home made bread and fresh eggs straight from the farm) and wine and chocolates on arrival.
Suttons Apple Farm Well known for their beautiful, crisp and very natural Apple juice. Adults and children can have a free tasting of all the yummy apple juices(from various apple varieties), they also have sauces and cider's for tasting and sale too.
After being patient with Mum and Dad tasting wines at various wineries, the kids really enjoy this experience. During Apple season(late Jan to June usually), there is apple picking where for a small price per kg you can pick your own apples. This is most FUN!
Inside the big shed is also a small cafe, with a simple menu of homemade meals that are all made from fresh, local produce where possible. The apple pie and ice cream are devine!!!!
Strawberry fields
Pick your own strawberries is open from October to May. Our kids thoroughly enjoyed this experience! For approx $14 a kg we could pick our own strawberries to take home and eat! The little shop attached has all strawberry themed nick nacks and the all important chocolate dipping source.
Wooden Maze and Mini Golf
There is enough to do here to keep the family busy for 2 to 3 hours. IT costs about $12 per person and under 4's are free. We managed to come across a voucher at one of the wineries and got 1 person in Free so it cost us $36 for our family that day.
Upon entry you receive a little puzzle card that you need to solve as you walk through the maze. You can come back for as many of these as you like. There is also a mini maze for little children, gardens to explore, a big chess set game, an over sized chair to climb on AND Mini Golf is included in the admission, which was a lovely way to finish our visit to the Granite Belt Maze. Attached is a little kiosk with ordinary coffee, but plenty of cold drinks, ice cream and all the snack food you could need.
Cheese Shop
A little cheese shop on a beautifully set dairy farm. You can taste very yummy cheeses and other condiments that are all available to purchase. They are welcoming to children tasting also, providing you watch they are being considerate and hygienic.
Castle Glen
One for the adults and the children. The shop is set in a gorgeous looking castle. Great opportunity to take some pics in the front. The shop is very colourful and beautifully layed out with wines, ports, beers and liquors of nearly every flavour!
The kids love all the different flavour fudge on offer. To help them decide they usually allow a few free tastings of it before purchase.
Last but not least.......there is the wineries of course. We love supporting the local wineries.
We are slowly making our way through the many wineries to visit in the area and we often will revisit the same wineries that have made it to our "favourite's" list.
Some of the ones we enjoy and like to support:
summit estate wines has a nice cellar door - average wines
boireann is one of Rob's favourites. He often sells out tho before he can even open his cellar door to the public, which is why we are members.
harrington glen has a beautiful cellar door, nice people, unique accommodation, good budget wines. Art gallery too.
pyramid rd wines we really like the wines here.
ballandean great cellar door, full tasting experience. Restaurant and shop attached . We enjoy their whites & the late harvest sylvaner (sweet one) is very yummy!
tobin wines A Unique cellar dooer experience, nice intimate, sit down, only 3 wines to taste left, but all very good quality and the winemaker talked alot!He had a Jacob and Charlotte wine! (names of our children!)
There are lots more, too many to name!
There is so much more to do in Stanthorpe that we are yet to discover and explore. I have been told that there is a beautiful path that you can go riding bikes along and stop along the way for a play and a picnic but we are yet to get family bikes and an attachment for the car to transport them BUT it is on our to do list next time we are in the region.
