The Upper Hunter region – comprised of Singleton, Muswellbrook, Dungog and Broke – is an economic powerhouse.
The region supplies energy and resources to most of NSW, so we mostly associate Singleton with high-vis, workbooks and hardhats. However, Singo's also full of surprises, incorporating interesting museums and award-winning vineyards.
While dining options are somewhat limited, there are still a few culinary delights to be found in the midst of this intriguing town.
For brekkie or lunch, schlep up the main drag of town to find Worn Out Wares. This cool cafe cum florist cum homewares boutique is located in a rabbit warren of hipness on George St. Grey French doors open onto rustic brick archways and it’s peppered with funky op-shop furniture, 1940s sinks as pot plants and chandeliers of wisteria overhanging your poppy seed bagel.
Image: Worn out Wares, Singleton
The home-cooked food is worthy of any inner-city Sydney cafe. Try the smoked trout salad with blistered tomato, roasted olives, fresh beans, salad leaves, herbed ciabatta and a poached goog. Or buy a posy of flowers from WOW’s Tuscan-inspired florist, with its unfinished frescos and shrubbery of chic. It's not surprising WOW has won multiple awards. WOW has the ‘wow factor’.
For tea, try the groovy Central Bar and Kitchen on John St for tapas and signature cocktails. For a budget option, there’s Khura Thai. Or consider Singleton Diggers. Great value with your old-school $15-midweek rump and tap beer at club prices. Mid-meal you’ll need to stand in the windowless paragon of pokies for the RSL’s ‘ode’ and think, now which way is west?
There's no shortage of interesting things to see in Singleton. The Australian Army Infantry Museum (AAIM) for one, is a finely curated collection from Australia's pre-federation state colonial armies and their first deployments overseas in the nineteenth century through to today. While the famous War Memorial in Canberra encapsulates a broader narrative of the Australian Defence Force in war, the AAIM is a refined and visceral story. This museum is about troops fighting up close and personal.
Image: Australian Army Infantry Museum
The mezzanine focuses on an infantry-person's ‘tools of the trade’: small arms. Moreover, how these weapons have influenced the tactics and techniques of our Aussie infantry today. While on the mezzanine be sure to look for the Boomerang Grenade. Yep. Sounds counterintuitive, but thrown at the correct angle, it dropped into an enemy trench with devastating effect. You’d think it to be ‘trench art’ at first. But this underscores the importance of a tour so you don’t miss these unique items.
There are no set times for tours but museum staff can walk the floor and provide guided assistance to the museum. Tour groups need to organise a guided tour before their visit. (Psst! Follow the ‘road signs’ to the AAIM, not Google Maps. The old Googlebox doesn’t recognise Hamilton VC Drive for some maddening reason. It leads you to the flanking artillery firing range. If your car is green, be sure to duck.) The museum is now FREE entry and opens from 9-4. Wednesday to Sunday.
A shiny new Cultural Centre in Singleton with three-hundred square metres of state-of-the-art gallery space calls Singleton home now, with two artists' workshops including wet and digital studios. The centre also houses Singo’s Civic Art collection: i.e. your classic, country-style Rotary Club turnout of the annual Singleton Art Show.
Image: Singleton Cultural Centre
There is a terrific Singleton Heritage Walk Tour, too. This “walking tour” is simply a Google map with all the key places of interest noted.
It’s a fair old trek if you do all of it, but the visitor will experience the full range of Singleton architecture, including 1980s buildings constructed during the mining boom. There are nigh on forty places of interest on your history amble but do pop into the cute-as-a-button local Singleton Museum in George Street.
This erstwhile gaol/courthouse was built in 1868 and now displays a pocket history of the town’s mostly humble rural beginnings, with some aboriginal artefacts, convict relics and Singo's first ambulance thrown in. Do chat with the wonderful volunteers, Anne or Peg, and ask them about the St Clair Homestead ‘Bell in a Tree’ or the curious Geary's Cash System, where they’ll demonstrate it for you as if calling Bingo. The museum is open Tuesdays from 10-1 pm, at weekends and on public holidays from 12-4 pm.
Speaking of history, if you’re driving from Sydney, for something different, consider taking the convict-built Old Great North Road (built between 1826 and 1836) instead of the soulless M1. We recently took this road and found it a charming way to get to Singleton.
Where do Singo denizens play and unwind? Lake St Clair is an undulating 30min drive northeast of Singleton.
The area was dammed (it holds half the volume of Sydney Harbour) and the lake was named after the St Clair Homestead (remember the Bell in a Tree?). It now sits beneath the lake with ultimate water views. As you absorb the silence of wind whistling through the hills, you’ll ask out loud “how’s the serenity!?”
There are excellent campsites and the lake is perfect for boating, waterskiing, swimming and, of course, fishing (bass, silver and golden perch).
Image: Lake St Clair, NSW
Chat with site manager Travis, who will explain he releases all the bass he catches on his fly-rod because they are his pets. There are a dozen powered sites here with public toilets and barbies.
As mentioned, you might think of Singleton more as a mine region than a wine region. But being part of the Hunter Valley, it’s home to outstanding wineries. Andrew and Lisa Margan (Andrew honed his craft with Tyrells for 20 years) are established winemakers in Broke. Indeed they were 2021 Winemakers of the Year.
They have 100 hectares of grape across two locations and these vineyards are ripe with a mixture of 50-year-old traditional Hunter varieties and some pioneering alternatives. Most of the vineyards are planted on the noteworthy soil of the Fordwich Sill, giving Margan wines its unique terroir. All their vino is made onsite at their winery in Broke, with an annual production of around 25,000 cases.
Image: Margan Vineyard share platter
You can sample their delish drop at their rammed earth cellar door where they have tastings, including new releases.
If you are on the fly and not staying for lunch at their award-winning restaurant, the share-platter is generous, with tasty pâté, freshly sliced prosciutto, creamy cheeses and with more crusty bread than the Last Supper.
Winmark means ‘fields of vines’ in Danish. So for something different, 10 clicks down the road from Margan, you’ll find Winmark Wines, Art Gallery and Sculpture Park. Danish-born owner Karin Adcock secured the rights to a little fledging jewellery brand called Pandora in Australia (you may have heard of it), ultimately flogging it for a reported $100 million before buying the vineyard in the inaptly named “Broke”.
Image: Winmark Vineyard
The lanky Scandwegian is a good egg who built a school for child refugees in Zimbabwe and now supports local artists with her unique winery cum sculpture park. The biz is a clever combo as art and wine are a natural fit - hey, just attend any exhibition opening. Kaz’s 130-acre property cultivates premium chardonnay vines, capturing mountain breezes and spectacular views.
Moreover, on a special tasting, they’ll buggy you around the property – dodging the occasional ‘roo – and discuss their sculptures before you taste their premium Chardy.
Singleton is first and foremost a mining town, meaning a lot of the accommodation is catering to the high vis army working during the week. This is why a weekend getaway can, ironically, be a win for you in Singleton. Unlike most regional NSW towns, accommodation’s more abundant on weekends than on weekdays.
For something special, consider Hunter Valley Resort. Owned and operated by the affable Phillip Hele, Phill’s family has been in the hotel business for yonks and some of the restored furniture from the fam’s first hotel in Denmark is in their mezzanine.The resort has a darling petting farm for the kids, a new 4pines brewery (killer combo for a winery) and a smart bistro (overlooking the comely, sun-drenched vineyard), a long-established winery and cellar door and horse riding and Segway tours. Moreover, the drinks and meals are fairly priced for such a picturesque setting in the middle of nowhere.
Image: Hunter Valley Resort
A recent initiative is the resort’s Wine Train. This is a three-hour chug by express train from Central Station to Singo, where the resort schleps you from the station, takes you on a tasting tour with accommodation thrown in and plops you back at the platform again. So sans car, it’s perfect for all-day tastings. Let’s face it, you might start sensibly, but by day’s end you’ll likely be eyeing the dregs in the spittoon. Best to plan ahead, leave the car at home and take the train. The Choo Choo vino package is good value for your coin.
For a more thrifty option, in downtown Singleton is Quest. The first thing you’ll notice is the sign in the lift asking you to remove your dirty boots. Yep, the hotel is chockers with the old FIFO gang. But these stylish, modern apartments are charming, with cute Romeo balconies with sweeping park views. And surprisingly for a budget hotel, the rooms are stylishly kitted out with great bedding and hip lighting.
They also have a fully equipped kitchen and full-size fridge and dining table so it means meals can be prepared and enjoyed in the apartment saving you some dosh in restaurants - which, as aforementioned, are skinny in Singo, anyway.
"On our way down the river, we came through as fine a country as the imagination can form ... for cultivation and equally so for grazing." – John Howe 1820.
The town was named in honour of Benjamin Singleton, one of Howe’s crew exploring the area. Singleton eventually settled in the area (a rare example of a town correctly named after its founding father) and eventually became district constable in 1823. He shrewdly established a pub, the Barley Mow Inn in 1827, at the only place people could ford the river. When Singleton’s grant was eventually subdivided in 1836, a town bloomed.
When you stroll down the main street of town you’ll note glorious Victorian commercial buildings and elegant homes and think to yerself, there must have been some coin in Singo back in the day. This building boom commenced after the railway arrived in 1863, connecting the rural outpost to Sydney. The same housing boom occurred in the 1980s when Singleton became the locus of the mining and electricity generation industries.
If you are a local business or a traveller passing though, we want to hear why road trips are important to you!
