Neatly tucked on the other side of the Blue Mountains from Sydney, where the mountains become open countryside, is the lesser-known village of Hartley Vale. Only a little further down a dirt road from there, on the Blue Mountains' edge, World Heritage Area is the Long Alley Barn.

The Barn overlooks one of the dams on the property, surrounded by lush bushland. It has been carefully restored into a spacious and stylish design, and provides all the comforts and luxuries of a modern home, while still preserving a lot of the original structure and warmth.

Every moment we spent in The Barn, whether it was cosying up with a book by the fire or enjoying the serene bushland surrounding it, was simply a delight. The Barn's facilities are as good, if not better than that of home. While it was incredibly tempting to spend all of our time enjoying The Barn itself, we were also perfectly poised geographically for adventuring in all directions.

During our stay, the weather was unseasonably cool, but this didn't stop us visiting some iconic Blue Mountains lookouts and exploring local townships. That said, by far the highlight of our time away was spending hours exploring the property back at The Barn, fires inside and out, enjoying the view from the verandah and having picnics on the dock by the dam.