Cessnock is a lovely "little" country town just two hours north of Sydney. Make time to visit the Hunter Valley Wildlife Park - adults are $42 ea, - it is a lovely wildlife reserve, the chocolate factory and the lovely wineries. The people are very friendly and helpful. Give the Asian restaurant (Kee Ho Restaurant) a miss - they are expensive, and the quality of the food does not represent the cost.

What a beautifully presented house full of antiques and homely touches. Just amazed at the well stocked kitchen, laundry etc. The beds were comfy, even the sofa bed. It was a great space for 5 adults and 3 children. Wish the weather was warmer for the swimming pool though!

first time ever being in cessnock, the place we stayed the night at was great, we went to the wildlife sanctuary which was so much fun. for dinner we went to the italian cottage and was amazing would definately go there again was delisious. only let down of the hole trip was that the taxis were horrible we had dinner booked at 7 we called a taxi and they said it was going to be a 45mins wait we then called the cottage and let them know this and moved our dinner back 30mins, we then had the taxi turn up 10-15mins later but lucky the place we were having dinner was fine with us coming at the time we said originally. we then ordered a taxi to go home which was a 30mins walk home. they told us to wait outside and would be there in a few minutes.... we waited over an hour for the taxi to come we even called once we had waited 30mins already and they said they still had 2 people infront of us... which they had already said it wouldnt be long until they would get to us.... so sounded like a lie to us. We ended up walking home becuase it was cold and was sick of waiting for this damn taxi to arrive never ended up getting a message to say the taxi had even showed up to the venue of where we had dinner. very dissapointed in this.

It was okay we did enjoy the stay and the bus tour to the wine testing it was a good experience to test the wine with that much with the cheese, and people were very friendly they offered us the special drink us it was our first wedding anniversary, so it was great.

We visit Cessnock frequently as we have friends there and always have a great time. There is plenty to do, beautiful scenery, many good restaurants and a vibrant social life. In fact we bought a block of land at The Vintage with a view to building a home there. On my last visit, we tried the new restaurant Pescara and had a great time and we always eat at The Deck which is fabulous. Had the best duck there I have ever eaten! Tamburlaine is our favourite cellar door and there is a myriad of other great wineries with restaurants. We book mini-buses when we go to functions there or out for meals when we are sampling the local wines. They are very well priced and convenient. It is also easy to take a bus to Morissett for a train back to Sydney if required.

Everything was within an easy drive. There was so much to see and do that we ran out of time. There is something for all ages. Next visit will be longer and will come with our Family. The farmers market was especially good.