Yellow Box Hill

The stay

Three bedrooms on a working hill, five minutes from Young.

A separate cottage on the high corner of the block, yours for the whole stay — not a room in someone else's house. Three bedrooms, one bathroom, and an open living room that runs straight out onto the deck.

Not taking bookings yet — we are still getting it ready. Check back, or email and we will tell you when it opens.

A queen in the main room, two singles in the second and one in the third, so it sleeps five without anyone drawing straws. Split-system heating and cooling, a smart TV, and Starlink internet that holds up well enough to work a day from the kitchen bench if you have to.

The whole place faces north-east across the paddock, so the sun arrives in the kitchen and leaves from the far end of the deck. Rainwater from a single tank. There is a big shed too, so bikes, boards, a kayak or whatever the weekend is actually about all have somewhere to go.

Open-plan living room with a sofa, dining table and white kitchen with stone island bench beyond — One room — kitchen, table, and somewhere to fall over

Looking across the lounge and dining table toward the white kitchen, with a stone island bench and windows over the garden — Looking back the other way

Bathroom with glass shower, charcoal tiles and a floating white vanity — Bathroom — one, and it is new

Long covered verandah with wire balustrade looking over green paddock and gum trees — The long side — where you will actually spend the weekend

Bedroom with a queen bed, teal throw and a window onto the verandah — Main bedroom — queen

Bedroom with two white single beds and a window looking onto the garden and paddock — Second bedroom — two singles

Bedroom with a single bed and a window looking out over the paddock — Third bedroom — one single

Corner of the deck with an outdoor table and chairs, cypress hedge beyond — The corner — morning sun, shade by two

The short version

What you get.

Sleeps
The whole cottage
Kitchen
Internet
Heating & cooling
Getting here

The land

A long block, running west into the trees.

The house, tank and sheds sit on the high eastern end near the road. From there the block runs a long way west — mown paddock first, then a gate, then box woodland with kangaroos in it most evenings.

Yellow box is where the name comes from. Eucalyptus melliodora — flaky honey-coloured bark low down, smooth pale limbs above, and a heavy nectar flow that fills the tree with bees when it flowers. It's the country this district grew before anyone put a fence across it, and the western half of the block is still woodland.

Box-gum woodland is also a listed endangered community in this part of NSW, so the western half stays as it is.

Aerial view of the cottage, round water tank and shed with the town of Young in the distance — From above, looking back toward town

Colorbond shed with two roller doors on a gravel pad, cottage beyond on the lawn — Machinery shed and turnaround

Side of the weatherboard cottage on a sloping green lawn with bushland behind — South side, on the rise

Wide mown lawn sloping away from the house toward a fence line and gum trees — The lawn, heading west

Fenced green paddock with mature gum trees along the far boundary — The flat ground, and the old gums along the boundary

Aerial photograph with the property boundary outlined in blue — cleared paddock at the road end, woodland running west — Boundary indicative — the block runs a long way west

High aerial view over orchards and paddocks toward the town of Young — Young, five minutes north-east

A farm gate in a wire fence opening onto grassy woodland with tall eucalypts — Through the back gate — the woodland half

The cottage, water tank and shed seen across a white post-and-rail fence — From the road fence

Weatherboard cottage with wraparound verandah beside a large round rainwater tank — North side, tank full

Sheep behind the fence, and a dam at the bottom.

A small mob of sheep is going on the open country between the trees. It is grass management that does not involve a tractor and a slasher every three weeks, and it is a great deal better to look at from the deck.

The low end of the block is where water wants to sit, so a dam goes in down there eventually.

A visualisation of a farm dam among open eucalypt woodland with sheep grazing nearby — Visualisation — how the low end should end up looking

Getting here

Two hours from Canberra, four from Sydney.

Moppity Road runs south-west out of Young through orchard and vine country. You'll pass more cherry trees than cars.

Everything below is a drive time from the front gate, give or take the state of the Olympic Highway.

2 minMoppity VineyardsSame road, same hill. Tastings by appointment — ring ahead. 5 minYoungPub meals, a good bakery, IGA, hospital, the Saturday market. 10 minLambing Flat Chinese Tribute GardensMarble lions, the Pool of Tranquillity, picnic tables and free barbecues at Chinaman's Dam — and the hard, necessary bit of Young's goldfields history. 15 minGrove Estate WinesCellar door in an old cherrypickers' shed on Murringo Road. Nebbiolo, wood-fired pizza, closed Wednesdays. 4 hrsSydneyHume to Yass, then west. Leave after lunch, arrive for dinner.

November & December

You have landed in the cherry capital.

Young grows more cherries than anywhere else in the country, and for about eight weeks a year the whole district runs on them. Roadside stalls, orchard gates open, and a town that throws a festival about it.

We do not grow them here — not yet — but you are five minutes from people who have for generations, and the fruit does not travel better than this.

The season
Picking your own
The festival

Worth the drive

Day trips, none of them over three hours.

The Hilltops sits in the middle of a lot of country worth seeing. These are the ones we'd send you to, closest first.

45 minCootamundraBradman's Birthplace Museum, and the Captains' Walk — bronze busts of every Australian Test captain, with the Don in the middle of them. 50 minCowraThe Japanese Garden and Cultural Centre, open daily, and the Prisoner of War campsite where the 1944 breakout happened — the largest land battle fought on Australian soil. 1 hrTemoraThe Aviation Museum flies its collection rather than parking it, which is the point of going. The Bundawarrah Centre next door holds the town history. 1 hr 10Age of Fishes, CanowindraA bulldozer turned over a slab in 1955 and uncovered a Devonian fish bed 360 million years old — thousands of armoured fish, many of them new to science. You get to handle the fossils. 1 hr 20Dog on the Tuckerbox, GundagaiStanding beside the Hume since 1932. Worth carrying on into town for Rusconi's Marble Masterpiece — a model cathedral built from nearly 21,000 pieces of marble over 28 years. 1 hr 35Junee Licorice & Chocolate FactoryIn the old flour mill, open seven days. Guided tours of the works, a licensed restaurant for breakfast and lunch, live music at weekends, and the option of making your own giant chocolate freckle. 2 hrsCanberraVia Boorowa. The War Memorial, the National Gallery and Questacon are all free or close to it, and the drive is easy enough to do there and back in a day. 2 hr 15The Dish, ParkesMurriyang, the 64-metre telescope from the film, standing in the middle of sheep paddocks. Visitors centre seven days, interactive exhibits and a 3D theatre. Turn your phone off on approach — it is a radio-quiet site. No café on site, so eat in Parkes. 2 hr 15BathurstMount Panorama is a public road the rest of the year, so you can drive the circuit at sixty. The Australian Fossil and Mineral Museum in town holds a complete T. rex skeleton.

On the water

Somewhere to swim and something to catch.

There is no beach within four hours, but there is a great deal of fresh water. Two big storages sit inside an easy drive, and a swimming hole ten minutes up the road.

Check the WaterNSW site before you go — recreation areas at their dams close on total fire ban days.

10 minChinaman's DamThe local one. Picnic tables, free barbecues and birdlife, with the Tribute Gardens alongside. Fishing is permitted; boats are not. 1 hr 10Lake WyangalaTwo and a half times the size of Sydney Harbour when it is full, at the junction of the Lachlan and the Abercrombie. Swimming, skiing, canoeing, two holiday parks with boat ramps, and stocked with Murray cod, golden perch and brown and rainbow trout. 1 hr 30Lake BurrinjuckThe state's first irrigation dam, held in steep bush below Mount Barren Jack. Swimming, skiing and sailing, walking trails, and Murray cod, golden and silver perch, redfin and both brown and rainbow trout. The Hume and Hovell track passes through. 2 hr 45Lake BurrendongA long way for a swim, but a serious fishing destination — Murray cod, golden perch and eel-tailed catfish among drowned timber along the old riverbeds. Water slides and swimming areas at the state park for anyone not holding a rod.

Finding us

Down Moppity Road, five minutes out.

Take Boorowa Street south-west out of Young and stay on Moppity Road. You'll pass the vineyard before you reach us. The house sits up on the rise at the road end of the block.

The cottage is not open to guests yet — we are still getting it ready. Keep an eye on this page for updates, or send an email and we will let you know when it goes live.

Yellow Box Hill is a Breakaway Property Group property. Owner and general enquiries go to the group; anything about this place can come straight here.

hello@yellowboxhill.au

Address

3435 Moppity Road
Young, NSW 2594
Hilltops, Wiradjuri country

Get directions ↗

Sketch, not to scale — use the directions link for the real thing.

Stay on a yellow box hill, five minutes out of Young.