It’s Saturday morning, and I’m currently sitting in bed, sipping on a coffee and reminiscing about last weekend when I was doing the exact same thing but in a cozy little cabin in Bilpin. What a good weekend that was!
Life has been busy lately. (Isn’t it always, though?). But being able to log off from work, get out of the city, and completely slow down and switch off for four days was exactly what we needed.
I had booked this cabin months ago as a birthday present for Jamie, and we finally got to pack our bags last week and head off on our mini family getaway.
We’ve been in and around the Blue Mountains many times over the years, but this was our first time in Bilpin. It’s a beautiful, quiet and scenic country town, known for its fruit orchards, apple cider and beautiful mountain scenery.
The cabin was right in the centre of it, and was the perfect spot to unwind in. It was cold and icy while we were there, but we had an indoor fireplace, outdoor fire pit and a spa bath to keep us warm during our stay.
Our days would start slow, drinking coffees and eating pastries in bed, then we’d spend the rest of the morning exploring the town. In the afternoons we’d come home, light a fire outside, and spend the evening drinking red wine, singing and dancing to Spacey Jane and cooking our dinner over the open fire.
We got pretty good at it too. (The cooking, not the singing and dancing unfortunately). The first night we cooked beautiful wagyu steaks, corn and potatoes. The steak turned out perfectly grilled and juicy, but the potatoes were unfortunately a little burned (note to self: either parboil the potatoes or wrap them up to avoid a charcoal flavoured potato). By the second night though, we had aced it with sticky pork ribs, corn and jacket potatoes.
Our nights would end with board games by the fire place, or movies, or both. The bed upstairs was warm, and we didn’t even need the air conditioning on most nights despite the chill air outside.
It was absolute bliss. I hope if you make it to the mountains this winter, you pop into Bilpin because it’s such a worthwhile stop. If you’re looking at recommendations for places to eat, drink and explore, I’ve listed some of our favourites below.
Places to Eat and Drink
Hillbilly Cider Shed
The Hillbilly Cider Shed was easily one of our favourite spots in Bilpin. The staff are all so friendly and welcoming, there is plenty of space outside to sit (you can either nab yourself a table on the deck or have yourself a picnic on the grass), and as a major selling point for us, it’s also dog-friendly so Daisy got to enjoy the cider brewery experience with us too. If you’re worried about the cold (like I was), there is a fire on the deck as well gas heaters that help keep you warm.
Despite the chilly weather, we visited three times over the weekend because we enjoyed the drinks and atmosphere so much. Daisy would sit herself in Jamie’s jacket to keep warm, while curiously poking her head around so she could still people watch with us. It was the sweetest thing!
In terms of their cider, there are so many different flavours to try. If you’re indecisive like I am, you can order a tasting paddle for $19 and choose 4 different flavours to try. The ciders are all nice in their own way, I don’t think there was one I tried that I didn’t enjoy if I’m going to be honest. Then again, I like most ciders so my opinion might be a bit biased.
Jamie on the other hand is not a cider fan. At least, he wasn’t prior to visiting Hillbilly. In all the years I’ve known him, I’ve never seen him voluntarily order a cider. He is a beer man, through and through. BUT, he ordered himself a paddle at Hillbilly, and… he enjoyed it? Enough to like it more than beer? No. But enough that he purchased more of the Summer cider to take away? Yes. No one was more surprised than me.
Oh, and if you are hungry after a paddle or two, they do delicious wood-fired pizzas there (both eat in or take away). The margarita pizza makes for a really good post-paddle feed, in my opinion. (I think if you add your own chilli flakes or chilli oil, it would take it to a whole new level too).
The Grumpy Baker
Hillbilly was our favourite place to drink, and the Grumpy Baker was definitely our favourite place to eat. Full of breads, pastries and coffee, and located conveniently across the road from our air bnb. We popped in frequently over the weekend for a daily coffee or pastry fix.
We sampled our way through a few of the savoury pies and sweet treats, but the standout for us was the cronut. It was my first time trying one, and my goodness… just *chefs kiss.
I usually prefer savoury snacks, but something about the buttery, flakey pastry that’s usually reserved for croissants, combined with the cinnamon and sugar dusting of a donut… it was just so spectacularly good. We had their Nutella one and the berry one, and both were just so, so good. I
Schembrae’s at Kurrajong
If you feel like heading out of Bilpin, Kurrajong is a small town not too far away, with a few shops, cafes and restaurants. Schembrae’s is a beautiful, family owned restaurant there that serves up some wonderful Mediterranean food. Get yourself a window seat if you visit, because the view of the mountains makes lunch that much more wonderful.
We tried a few different meals there, but the stand out dish was the “zalzett u gbejna”, which was made up of Maltese sausages on top of potato chips topped with anchovy salsa with a side of homemade Maltese soft cheese. It was so different from anything we’d usually order, but the flavours!!! And the textures!!! Everything about it was delightful.
The Village Kitchen Kurrajong
We also tried The Village Kitchen one morning for breakfast. The staff are friendly, the meals decently priced, and it’s also dog-friendly. Daisy had a fun time making friends while we enjoyed our meals.
Pie in the Sky
We have tried lots of pie shops, but Pie in the Sky is definitely up there in our top 3. We decided to stop in on our way home as a last weekend pastry fix, and I’m so glad we did because the pies there are incredible. I got the chilli beef pie and it was filled with soft, tender chunks of beef and slices of Thai red chillies. The pastry was perfectly flaky, and held together well. So flavoursome, so cheap and so good!
Things to Do
Blue Mountains Botanic Gardens
If you’re looking for a free activity for you and partner, or the kids, the Botanic Gardens is a good place to visit that’s close to Bilpin. The view of the mountains at the entrance is spectacular. There are a few different options of tracks you could take, ranging from 30mins to 60mins or longer. We didn’t have much time, so we did one of the short ones. It’s a nice way to get fresh air, admire the native flowers and also get some steps in.
Bushwalks
I actually found this track online after searching for nearby bush walks, and saw that it was popular for its glow worms at night. We decided to check out the drive and the walk one morning to see if we would be able to come back and comfortably do them at night.
The walk is a relatively easy one. It starts off at the campsite, and is nice and flat for the entire way. All you can hear are bird songs and wind rustling through the leaves as you walk through, it’s quite serene. There’s also a small waterfall at the end, and you can see the steep walls and caverns where the glow worms would be. It’s a beautiful little walk, and one we could have done easily in the evening with a torch.
Unfortunately the drive into the campground is difficult. It’s just one road, however it’s a very long, bumpy and windy one designed only for 4WDs. Jamie’s ute managed it ok, however I didn’t know how it would fair at night with minimal lighting so sadly we decided not to do the trip in the evening to see the glow worms. We will definitely be back in the future though. We will likely camp there for the night so no night driving is needed.
Other Things to Note
Fruit Picking
Bilpin is very well known for fruit picking due to the all the orchards in the town. We didn’t do any though due to it being winter, there wasn’t much of a variety of fruits to pick (I honestly didn’t want to spend money picking just apples). But if it’s your thing, and you head there during a season where there’s more fruits available, you’ll find that most places offer fruit picking. The Fruit Bowl seems to be the most popular place to do so if you’re interested. They also have a produce section of their store where you can just purchase pre picked apples and other local produce, and we just got our apples from there instead (which were delicious).
Cider
You might note that we didn’t include Bilpin Cider as a place to visit in our list, despite it being a much bigger and more popular spot than Hillbilly. We did visit it, but we actually didn’t enjoy it very much. This might be a bit of a “hot take,” but I didn’t enjoy their cider as much, and it was too busy for my liking. We much preferred the cider and friendly and relaxed atmosphere of Hillbilly.
Groceries
As wonderful as Bilpin is, it does lack grocery stores. The Grumpy Baker has a few goods like bread, local free range eggs and bacon. And the Fruit Bowl has some fresh produce. But for anything more, you’ll need to head into nearby towns like Kurrajong for your closest grocery store. So best to come prepared with some of your own groceries if you don’t want to eat out for every meal or travel out of the area.
It was such a lovely, wholesome and relaxing weekend away. One we’ll be thinking about and reminiscing about for a good little while.
Time to plan our next trip away? Yep, I think so too.
Laura x