Mulla Villa Farm

A farm stay on a sandstone property built by convicts in 1840 as the home of David Dunlop, Wollombi's first Police Magistrate, his wife Eliza Hamilton and their five children. Convict-built prison cells from the same decade still stand on the grounds, so the history is part of the setting rather than a plaque. The stay itself is a cottage that sleeps five across a queen, a double and a single, and there's camping on the property as well.

It sits on the Great North Road at Wollombi, about 29 km south-west of Cessnock and 128 km north of Sydney. That puts it well south of the main Pokolbin cluster, so it's a quiet rural base with a fair drive to most cellar doors. Stays are by appointment, so contact the property with your arrival time and pick the key up at the main house.