As you wind your way through the picture-perfect backroads of Byron Bay’s hinterland to The Brooklet – the region’s newest luxury accommodation offering – you instinctively exhale, writes Tracey Prisk.
The 20-minute drive from Ballina Byron Gateway Airport to The Brooklet takes you past countless roadside honesty boxes, each as unique as the last, offering everything from plump ripening avocados to glistening honey jars.
The tiny villages you encounter – including Newrybar, home to the legendary Harvest restaurant – are jam-packed with charm, easily distracting undisciplined holidaymakers from their destination. And what a destination it is. Not only is this part of the world breathtakingly beautiful, but life here seems to move slowly, a welcome change from urban life.
“It’s about people feeling like they’ve stepped out of the city and just take in the beauty and connect to nature again,” The Brooklet’s owner Greta Smith tells me.
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A Byron Bay transformation
Having recently opened its doors to welcome up to 24 guests, it’s evident how much the hilltop perch The Brooklet rests on has been transformed since 2007 when Greta and her family purchased the macadamia and stone-fruit farm with a plan to regenerate the land. Now visitors to the 125-acre site can stay at The Bails, a dilapidated dairy, before being transformed into a sumptuous homestead. Or the six newly-constructed luxury villas that sit a little further away.
The Bails can comfortably accommodate six people and would suit an extended family or a group of friends keen to make the most of its private restorative mineral pool, large indoor and outdoor living spaces, and BBQ area.
The three one-bedroom villas and three two-bedroom villas offer the privacy favoured by couples or solo travellers like me who even managed a sleep-in thanks to the ultra comfortable bed and peacefulness outside.
All images © Abbie Melle
Artisan of style
Designed by Caravan Interiors’ Amanda Luckmann, the villas are nothing short of luxurious, from the ensuites’ handmade ceramic tiles to the free-standing bath alongside an oversized window that brings the outdoors in.
When the temperature dips in the evening, there are individual outdoor wood fireplaces – although each villa’s indoor gas fireplace makes it hard to budge from the cosy lounge.
A fully-equipped kitchen, with a complimentary bottle of wine on arrival and breakfast provisions, was well-received, allowing me to stay cocooned longer than customary.
Each villa also has an in-room drinks cart with gin and tonic from the Winding Road Distilling Co., which is only a stone’s throw down the road at Tintenbar. The distillery also offers a range of hand-crafted liqueurs, rums, and whiskeys, with owners Camille and Mark Awad soon opening a cellar door that can be visited using The Brooklet’s onsite electric bikes.
Be charmed by the hinterlands
Whether you stay in the sumptuous surrounds of The Brooklet or prefer to explore a little further afield, you’ll be enchanted by the kind of hinterland vistas that draw tourists from all over the world and attract their fair share of famous residents.
In fact, my chatty taxi driver and keen enthusiast of the region he calls home recalled that one of the famous Hemsworth brothers lived just down the road, although he couldn’t quite remember which one.
It’s easy to see why the hamlet of Brooklet stole Greta’s heart some 30 years ago with its proximity to the famed beaches of Belongil and Wategos and the increasingly popular little pockets of Suffolk Park, Possum Creek, and Bangalow.
Greta admits after many trips to Tuscany and a stay at the luxury resort Borgo Santo Pietro near Siena, she took more than a bit of inspiration from Italy, and its people’s appreciation of food and wine, when she set about creating her own version of hospitality closer to home.
Long lunches and cooking lessons
Ahead of their stay, guests can book a relaxing long lunch or even an in-room dining experience utilising the best home-grown produce The Brooklet’s Executive Chef Simon Favorito can source. In fact, its outdoor kitchen even offers an opportunity for guests to book a private cooking lesson or watch the food preparation process while enjoying a glass of something cold perched on a bench-side stool.
Local foodie favourites such as Lucy Ashley and her Bangalow-based oyster shucking team at Shuck Oyster Purveyors can also be booked to provide onsite masterclasses.
The Brooklet’s bar will also host events such as pizza nights or Martini afternoons, allowing visitors to wander a short distance from their accommodation, mingle with like-minded travellers, and meet some locals.
Dive in
Guests also have access to wellness facilities, including a 25-metre tiled heated mineral pool, the magnesium hot tub, a gymnasium, a treatment room, an infrared sauna, and an ice bath.
Wellness sessions drawing on the Northern Rivers region’s wealth of wellness practitioners offering a wish list of activities. From breathing classes to yoga lessons can be organised. If you feel like upping the exercise ante, there’s a tennis court, walking trails, and a waterhole to explore. Yet if a good book and perhaps a glass of red wine is more to your liking, curl up on the communal wooden deck beside an open fireplace.
Relaxed and nurtured
With Greta’s vision coming to life, she says she’ll judge her success by knowing guests leave The Brooklet “relaxed and nurtured”.
“When I saw The Brooklet finished, I was in tears. It absolutely went above and beyond what I envisaged,” she said. “[I was grateful] to own somewhere with an amazing community and culture with access to the beautiful hinterland and the beach, is like the best of both worlds.”
While The Brooklet undoubtedly lends itself to hosting company retreats, its family events, such as weddings, milestone birthdays, or reunions when it will really come into its own.
The Brooklet is designed to allow guests to tailor their visit to be as activity-packed or slow-paced as they desire. No matter what path you choose, there’s no doubt you’ll feel rejuvenated – and charmed – after your visit.
The Brooklet is 20 minutes from Ballina Byron Gateway Airport, 20 minutes from the heart of Byron Bay, and a two-hour drive to Brisbane.
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