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

PLACES TO EAT / GET COFFEE

Woodford

• 20 Mile Hollow (Sat & Sun 8am-2pm) – homely, spacious café with games for kids

Hazelbrook

• Food truck at Connect on Oaklands Rd, Hazelbrook (Sun 18th Sept) – get takeaway and head to Gloria Park nearby. There’s a playground and field for the kids.
• The Parade Cafe (Sat 9am-4pm, Sun closed) – nice, small café near train station
• Hazelbrook Village shops: WikiLeaks Cafe (Sat & Sun 6am-4.30pm), Bread in the Mountains (a bakery that sells sandwiches and pies), Hazelbrook Pizzaria and Kebab House (great for takeaway) and Sincerely, Cake (delicious baked treats)
• Hazelbrook Bowling Club (Sat & Sun 12-9pm)

Lawson

• Cortado Cafe (Sat & Sun 7.30am-3pm)
• Ben’s Cafe (Sat 8.30am-1.30pm) – a lovely social enterprise cafe with a range of great meals
• Black Cockatoo Bakery (Sat & Sun 7.30am-2pm) – a popular bakery
• Rust & Timber Chocolate Bar – for coffee, chocolate, fudge and nougat
• Blue Mountain Hotel (Sat & Sun 10am to late) – big, heritage hotel with great pub fare

Faulconbridge

• Norman Lindsay gallery & café (Sat & Sun 9am-4pm)
• Chapters & Leaves (Sat 9.30am-2pm; Sun closed) – small cafe menu, 150 different teas plus secondhand books and local ‘mountain made’ gifts

THINGS TO DO WITH KIDS

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

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.

OTHER THINGS TO DO

Sat 17 Sept – Woodford Academy Open Day, featuring artist in residence Naomi Oliver
10AM-4PM
Its volunteer-run cafe has tea and coffee available from 10am to 3 pm.
Artist Naomi Oliver will be speaking at 1 pm on her forthcoming Residency. Using creative coding and video art, she responds to historical artefacts digitally, attempting to tap into a space where old and new technologies intersect.

Local markets
17 Sept – Glenbrook Rotary Markets
18 Sept – Magpie Up Style Market in Lawson

More gardening

18 Sept – Blackheath Flower & Craft Show

Other events

16-18 Sept The Artisan Fair at the Fairmont Hotel in Leura

SHOPPING

Faulconbridge
Faulconbridge Farm – eclectic antique store

Hazelbrook
Rosey Ravelston Books – lovely, secondhand bookstore only open on Fridays and weekends
Hazelbrook Cottage Antiques – just on Railway Pde, where Parade cafe resides and two of our Hazelbrook gardens Elvis and Tarraleah

Lawson
Lyttleton Stores – a food co-op with weekend workshops and locally made gifts