Curraweena House Retreat Venue — 1033 Grose Vale Rd, Australia
Heritage farmhouse retreat venue in the Blue Mountains foothills, Kurrajong NSW
Curraweena House began as a working farm. Around 1925, Garnet Dunston, a member of the Light Horse Brigade who had served in World War I, established the farmhouse at Kurrajong Hills and set up a dairy and orchard on the land after his return from service.
The present chapter starts on a spring weekend in 2016. The family that now runs the place was pottering in the paddock next door at Bell View House when Dad mentioned that Curraweena was for sale. They had been watching it change from a run-down farmhouse into a restored property with landscaped gardens, and it won them over the moment they walked in. Owner Rebecca Want has been its caretaker for just over a decade. Over the years the family converted the barn into the ivy-covered space it is today and added a firepit and a heated plunge pool to the garden.
The heritage home sits on an acre of country gardens and sleeps 11 across five bedrooms. A short walk through the garden is the standalone barn, which the house calls the shala. It is stocked with 18 mats, 18 bolsters, 34 blocks, 18 belts and 18 blankets, and there is a treatment cabin nearby. Bell View House, built in the 1980s, stands 200 metres across the paddock on ten acres with a large deck and mountain views. It adds seven more beds, for 18 in all, and belted galloway cattle sometimes wander the paddock. The village of Kurrajong, with its bakery and deli, is a one-kilometre walk away.
Retreat leaders hire the whole property privately, for a minimum of two nights. Catering is arranged separately, either self-catered or through local chefs the house recommends. Yoga teachers, reading and writing groups, a Pilates retreat and leadership teams have all used it, and the venue counts 60 retreats since 2022.
Traditions: Yoga, Meditation, Pilates, Reading retreats, Writing retreats, Plant-based retreat catering
Programs: Yoga retreats, Reading retreats, Writing retreats, Corporate retreats, Pilates retreats, Mid-week retreats, Book club nights, Workshop and strategy sessions