Links House Hotel: A Little Escape to the Southern Highlands
Few places make slowing down feel quite as easy as the Southern Highlands. Around Bowral, the landscape is soft and settled, with rolling hills, cows grazing in paddocks and native birdsong coming from the bushland. When I was looking for somewhere to escape for the night, I wanted a hotel with genuine heritage character, a cosy rather than overly polished atmosphere, and somewhere with good food and wine where we could park the car and forget about it for the evening. The Links House Hotel felt like exactly that — a charming country-house stay that felt connected to its surroundings rather than simply sitting in them.
Interiors & Aesthetic
Whenever I'm booking a hotel, one of the things I look for is a genuine sense of place and The Links House certainly has that. Built in 1928 as a heritage-listed house, it has retained much of its original character while being given a lighter, more contemporary feel.
The entrance is wonderfully symmetrical. To the left is the bar and fireplace, with a little reading nook, while to the right is a bright, open dining room with crisp white linens, local artwork and a lovely curved division that makes the larger space feel more intimate. There are eclectic pieces throughout, vintage golf clubs, original timber floorboards and a roaring fireplace looking out towards the golf course.
The whole thing feels like you've arrived at your glamorous grandma's country house for the weekend only your grandma has great taste and a local wine list.
Importantly, nothing feels precious. The Links House Hotel isn't trying to be sleek or over-polished, and that's part of its charm. The cream tones and timber floors keep the main house feeling light and uplifting, while the bar's deep chocolate walls make it moodier and more intimate — particularly lovely on a cooler evening.
The character does continue into the rooms, although they are much simpler than the main house. We stayed in Room 18, one of the larger rooms, with its own fireplace, desk and sofa, as well as an ensuite bathroom. One of my favourite details was the small central courtyard, which all the rooms look onto. We visited in the first week of spring, when the vines were still covered in tiny buds, just waiting to burst into life. It was easy to imagine sitting out there with a drink in the warmer months, surrounded by greenery and birdsong.
Food & Drink
One of the main reasons we wanted to stay at Links House was Ethos, the hotel's restaurant. When you're coming to the Southern Highlands for just one night, being able to leave the car for the evening is a real luxury. No transport to organise, no need to think about driving — just a few glasses of wine and a delicious dinner.
We started with cocktails in the lounge beside the fireplace. I had the Links Garden, a gin-based cocktail topped with beautiful edible flowers, exactly the sort of little flourish I love.
Dinner at Ethos is elevated for a country stay. We shared the burrata with tomato and basil, along with the goat's cheese and asparagus, both of which were wonderfully fresh. The asparagus and goat's cheese were my favourite — simple ingredients, but full of flavour and nothing bland.
For mains, we shared the steak and pan-fried salmon with beetroot and artichoke. The steak was the standout. It was an MB4+ Australian beef steak, and it really was so good — easily up there with some of the steaks we've had in Sydney.
It was a Friday night and almost every table was full, which gave the restaurant a lovely energy. The staff were attentive and relaxed, and I loved that if you fancied dessert, you could take it through to the lounge and finish the evening beside the fire. I'd eat at Ethos even if I wasn't staying at the hotel — which, for me, is one of the biggest compliments I can give a hotel restaurant.
Service & Atmosphere
There was a lovely sense of familiarity in the way the staff interacted with guests. You could see them chatting with people, checking in on tables and having genuine conversations, but never in a way that felt intrusive or overbearing. We felt looked after without ever feeling fussed over.
The pace of service was also spot on. Nothing felt rushed, but we were never sitting around wondering where something had disappeared to.
It's a difficult balance to get right, particularly in a hotel that is trying to retain that old-fashioned country-house feeling. The Links House Hotel doesn't quite have the polished service of a more formal luxury property, but what it does have is genuine, local-feeling hospitality. The atmosphere is welcoming rather than formal, and there's none of that slightly intimidating sense you sometimes get in a more polished hotel.
It feels relaxed. It feels lived-in. And, for a weekend away in the Southern Highlands, that made it all the more inviting.
In and Around Bowral
The Southern Highlands isn't really one destination so much as a collection of towns and villages, with Bowral being one of the easiest to reach from Sydney and a good base for a short escape. There's a distinctly British influence here, which isn't surprising given the colonial history, with its gardens, antique shops, country-house architecture and general old-world atmosphere.
Bowral is particularly good for vintage shopping, with plenty of little places to dip in and out of. The other big draw is food and wine. The Southern Highlands has a great reputation for cool-climate wines and quality local produce, with vineyards scattered throughout the region. We headed to Bendooley Estate for lunch, partly because of its easy location from Bowral, and loved its relaxed, unpretentious feel — more somewhere to settle in for lunch than a formal wine-tasting experience. In Bowral itself, Nick's Coffee on High Street and The Press Shop are both good first-timer stops.
The highlight of the weekend was definitely Retford Park Gardens, which are beautiful to wander around in early spring. We also loved the Bowral Bee Farm, where we did a tour and tasting, learned about bees and got to take some of the honey home.
There are plenty of other towns and things to explore around the Southern Highlands, but for a first visit, this felt like the perfect combination — particularly at that lovely point in early spring when the gardens are waking up and the countryside is looking its best.
