Hunter River Retreat

I was enthralled by the beauty of this remarkable slice of heaven. The Bluegum cabin was clean, welcoming and the bed was really comfy too. The linen was high quality and some of us appreciate these special luxuries.Eloise and Troy go out of their way to help their guests and are friendly, lovely hosts.If you love admiring spectacular, far reaching views from the warmth and bubbles of a spa on your private verandah; if you feel at peace in homely ambience, surrounded by birdsong, eucalypts with the occasional visit from a kangaroo or echidna, then the Hunter River Retreat is the place for you!There are two gorgeous Scottish highlanders on the property and a friendly, grey horse who visits. Word has it, they will soon be joined by some miniature donkeys! What a cool place!It's a truly wonderful stay at Hunter River Retreat, but it's very hard to leave, so be warned.

What a beautiful place to stay - the views were stunning and the cottage was nice and clean and very cosy. Love the entrance as you drive in being greeted by the animals and definitely recommend arriving at night so you you can see the beautiful lights from the boat display and the truck. Thank you Eloise and Troy me and my husband had a wonderful experience.

This was our second visit, and it was just as wonderful as the first! It is a quiet getaway, but it is still close to home. The free roaming animals are definitely a highlight of our visit, alongside the relaxed and peaceful atmosphere.

Beautiful location for a relaxing getaway.Great communication with hosts and the friendly pets made our stay

Second time visiting Hunter River Retreat. We absolutely loved our time away there and wish we could have stayed longer both times. Already looking to see when we can plan another stay. Thank you Eloise for helping make a perfect weekend getaway.

We recently stayed on our holiday from Tasmania. Beware that the cleaner leaves the clientele reviews and NOT the owners. Despite the fabulous location, the cottage was dusty and dirty, 2 rolls of toilet paper supplied for 3 adults for 3 days, dirty lounge, layers of dust and debris on window ledges, overflowing gutters that hadn’t been attended to in years and the owner tried to blame this on the weather- really? Dirty old outdated cookware, abominable driveways that again they tried to blame on the weather. Well how about you attend to these serious defects and FIX them!! That’s right, THE OWNERS then tried to blame our choice or rental car for the fact that we bottomed out constantly on a driveway full of deep ruts and smashed cement - what an absolute joke. The hosts claimed that they agreed with the fact that their cleaner said we left food in the fridge which we couldn’t take back to Tasmania was an insult. Nothing but excuses to protect their 5 star rating but we won’t be bowled over with pathetic excuses and will rate the property in an over generous way. Then to top it off, the owners said that they are not legally allowed to leave any and I quote “unopened or unsealed food stuffs in the cabin due to obvious reasons”. Well how about you fire your current cleaner then Train your new employee to NOT LEAVE an unsealed used bottle of Moccona on the bench for others to use which goes totally against what you claim you can’t do. If you want nothing but pathetic excuses for their cleaners totally inept cleaning regime, excuses and rhetoric for the properties failings, then stay with them. Apart from the location, this property simply isn’t worth half of what they charge so stay somewhere else where the owners actually give 2 hoots and don’t make excuses for the gross failings of the property itself and the disgusting cleanliness of the Cabin. My wife is a professional cleaner for luxury Air BandBs and the cleanliness of this place doesn’t even deserve a 1 out of 10 but we thought we would be generous with a 2. Stay somewhere else and get your moneys worth, we certainly won’t be back!

Just got home from a lovely midweek stay at the Hunter River Retreat. I highly recommend. We also got 2 grazing boxes and couldn't have been happier with the quality of produce. So if your looking for a getaway within 1 hr of Newcastle I would say check it out.

A beautiful location with a great view from the top of the property. It’s worth the stroll. I loved the friendly animals, horse, lamas & donkeys wondering around. We stayed in the Rockhouse, a tidy, rustic & old type cabin (needs a dust & a good window clean though).A very peaceful setting. No recycling facilities available so took mine home. Be sure to bring food & drink as the nearest town/shops was 20 minutes away. Wandering around Maitland was lovely.

Thank you Eloise and Troy for a fab couple of days at Hunter River Retreat! A place of perfect peace to leave the worries of life far away. An amazing walk to the lookout with the magical views of the Hunter all around. Round it off by sharing the afternoon in the company of Smokey, Max and Elliot, and the wondrous bird life. What next? Well, settling in front of the fire with some delightful Hunter reds and that's a wrap! Can't wait for the next visit!