A guide to exploring the mid-mountains area (and beyond) while you’re here visiting:

EAT | SHOP | PLAY | MORE TO DO

PLACES TO EAT / GET COFFEE

Woodford

  • 20 Mile Hollow (Sat only 7.30am-3.30pm) – homely, spacious café with a dedicated play area for kids
  • Burger World (Sat & Sun 11am-9pm)

Hazelbrook

Lawson


 

SHOPPING

Lawson
Story Garden – a gorgeous store for children’s books, gifts and creative supplies. Festival ticket holders all have access to a 50% discount voucher to use at the store for their second-hand books. Ask for your voucher at your first garden.

Rosey Ravelston Book Store and cafe – a charming social enterprise book store of mostly secondhand books that donates 50% of profits to charities supporting refugees, with a small cafe running on site.

Faulconbridge
Faulconbridge Farm – a one of a kind, eclectic antique store

Hazelbrook
Hazelbrook Cottage Antiques – a haven for antique hunters on Railway Pde.

Woodford
Mid-Mountains Vintage – bigger than it looks, this is an endless warren of antique treasures.


THINGS TO DO WITH KIDS

Playgrounds
Gloria Park, Hazelbrook – Playground, oval with plenty of picnic tables and open space. 

Wilson Park, Lawson– Simple playground, small waterfall followed by a creek that runs through Lawson’s famous ‘Australia rock’, picnic tables and open space.

Queens St Playground– A small simple, fully enclosed playground located a few minutes from Lawson cafes. 

Lawson Musical Park– A humble construction just next to the Lawson shops, where you can grab a coffee (and croissant) from the nearby cafes and and sit while the kids are entertained dinging the bells.

Woodford Park, Woodford– Small shady playground behind tennis courts.

Linden Playground– Simple playground located in Linden on the way to Tundarra Garden (although Tundurra is probably a better incentive for a playground!)

Wentworth Falls Lake – recently renovated playground near the lake, with paths for walking and scootering. 

Glenbrook – Great playground with equipment for both young and older kids is a playground that you can stop in on on your way up or down the mountain. It is a popular playground located next to Glenbrook village shops approximately 30 minutes down the mountain from the Garden Festival.

Bushwalks
Hazelbrook is known as “the village of waterfall walks” because it has six in the area!
Horseshoe Falls walking track is a favourite with kids with a wonderful waterfall to sight and fairy doors to spot along the way. A 30-min return walk for all levels. www.outofthenest.com.au/portfolio/horseshoe-falls-walk/

Lawson Waterfall loop track. www.outofthenest.com.au/portfolio/waterfall-loop-track/

To do the full loop you might take 2hrs, but you can also enter the loop from Honour Avenue or from Lawson Dog park www.outofthenest.com.au/portfolio/lawson-dog-park-reserve/ and just venture in to see one of the waterfalls then return out the way you came, both of which could take you 30minutes.


OTHER THINGS TO DO

Woodford Academy Open Day
Don’t leave the mountains without visiting Woodford Academy! The Academy has Open Days on the 3rd Saturday of each month. It’s the oldest complex of colonial buildings in the Blue Mountains, with a multi-layered history stretching back to the 1830s.

DIRECTIONS TIP: Take the left hand turn at Woodford Avenue and then first left into Vale Rd to park around the back for access to the building.

Find out more

Local markets
19th Sept – Glenbrook Rotary Markets
20th Sept – Magpie Up Style Market in Lawson