Blog Posts

When I was a kid my Canadian Mum used to greet spring each year with the same nonsense rhyme she learned when she was a tot, said with Brooklyn accent - although I had no idea what that was, or even where that was, apart from looking at the Encyclopedia Britannica at some ancient photo and map. It may as well have been Mars, but the rhyme stuck.

We ventured out to visit the new cellar door at Printhie Wines with a couple of our very good friends, to taste the wine and try out the restaurant for lunch. Despite our six years as residents, we hadn’t made it to the old Printhie cellar door/shed, so it made it all the more imperative to do so.

And the result? A resounding 10/10!

Whether you have an office that you’re not ready to head back to, or you’re just enjoying the tail end of the summer break - why not stretch your R&R just a little more? Why not take The Pet Shop Boys brilliant advice and… “Go West - in the open air”.

Book for one of our Business Breaks and we’ll provide you a Hot-desk for the day at Hive Orange.

In her recent article in Concrete Playground, Cordelia Williamson wrote a great piece titled ‘How to Explore the Stunning Orange Region When You Need a Break from the City’ – could not have said it much better myself! There are however, a few omissions and I think it only fair that we add them to her list.

In the three years we’ve lived and worked in Orange, we constantly complained of the lack of good, modern hi-tech workspace… thank goodness it’s now arrived!! Thank you, Prue and Andrew Swain for your vision and determination.

Thank you to all our guests who have been generous enough to visit with us over the last two and a half years - to all those who intended to come, but had to cancel because of the Covid-19 travel restrictions and had their plans completely shattered… and to all those who decided to come and visit us in Orange as soon as the restrictions were lifted.

To all of you we want to say, “Thanks for choosing to stay with us and experience a little bit of life in our town”.

It seems like a lifetime ago when… well, when things were ‘normal’ – at least ‘normal’ as we used to know it.

It may be a little time before we see anything like that again, but we think we’ll take every little bit of change as a massive step forward. Rather than pine for last year… we’re really excited to look ahead to the rest of 2020 and beyond.

It’s that time of year again - we’re only weeks away from this year’s Orange F.O.O.D Week from Friday 27 March to Sunday 5 April. Whatever you do… don’t procrastinate - events fill fast!

Orange during FOOD Week - it’s THE ONLY place to be!

In no more than a week… everything changes.

It’s nothing short of a miracle as life returns to the most dormant twigs - buds burst through their skin to reach the sun as it warms. Despite the desperate lack of water, life appears again through the most challenging circumstances.

When visiting one of our favourite local eateries - we tried an Orange wine we hadn’t had the good fortune to sample before - 2017 Block 7 Syrah by Matthew Atallah. It may have been our first couple of bottles… but it will definitely NOT be the last - simply superb! How did we not discover this treasure before now!

The Orange Wine Festival [Friday October 18 till Sunday 27 October 2019] is the region’s opportunity to celebrate the thriving wine industry and high-quality cool climate wines that are produced in the region. 

That's the official line... the truth of it is - The Orange Wine Festival is - or Wine Week as the locals know it - along with FOOD Week - MUST be in your calendar each year.  

So you cannot allow 2019 to pass without being able to say to all your friends..."You should have been at Wine Week in Orange it was amazing / astonishing / astounding / surprising / bewildering / stunning [insert your own preferred word here]".

It seems only yesterday that we were sweltering through one of the hottest summers ever! At least that’s what it felt like.

The lawn felt it, the flowers felt, the trees felt it - all our plans of planting a beautiful English Box hedge around the front gard, with roses and foxgloves and lashings of bright annuals, went on hold. Extra water restrictions loomed and the heat was relentless.

Here we are only a few weeks away from one of the biggest events on the Orange calendar… the Orange Wine Festival, or Wine Week as it’s known by most locals and plenty of visitors.

“What’s there to do in wine week?” is a the question from those poor people not in the know. 

Well… lots of wine tasting to start with!! 

We are humbled by how many people say “Thank you for allowing us to stay…” – it’s testament to the fact that we have, in some small way, managed to achieve what we set out to do.  Have ‘The Sampson’ feel like a home away from home, somewhere to just arrive, relax and unwind – in preparation for some serious and much deserved pampering!

A visitors' book is a little old school, perhaps you could say a relic of elderly relatives who wanted every person who crossed the threshold to be noted and leave comments... even if it was just for a cuppa.

On the other hand there is something committed and permanent about writing something down.  The act of putting pen to paper is a considered and deliberate act.  The fact that you generally don't want to have your words full of crossing-out and corrections, requires you to give thought to what you're writing, or about to write. There's no ability to randomly mind dump and correct later.