In NSW’s New England High Country, Tenterfield flies quietly under the radar, offering travellers plenty to eat, drink, see and do without losing its country charm.

You’ll likely see a tractor driven down the main street in Tenterfield. And a restaurant as swanky as anything you’ve seen in Orange or Mudgee: two of regional NSW’s hippest foodie towns. But should you consider Tenterfield the new Orange, or the new Mudgee – and I’ve been putting it out there to residents – locals will rebuke, and tell you, “No… it’s the old Tenterfield". And therein lies the duality of this town: is this an overlooked soon-to-be hotspot? Or a classic Aussie country town?

It’s worth noting that from Sydney, Tenterfield isn’t a breezy 3.5-hour drive away – instead the New England High Country town near the Queensland border is an eight-hour drive or 2.5 hours from the nearest major airport, Ballina Byron Gateway (reached mostly via a winding, undulating two-lane road). As such, you won’t find the usual influx of Sydneysiders here like you would in the aforementioned regional NSW hubs. Instead, it’s Brisbane folk who make the 3.5-hour drive south for a weekend escape from Queensland’s humidity. Sitting 850 metres above sea level, Tenterfield often calls for a fire at night, even in summer, and in winter, it’s not unheard of for snow to fall.

I arrive away from the weekend and it’s as quiet as any regional Australian town. Just a whole lot prettier. Its streets are lined with heritage-listed buildings. History oozes out of them: like Tenterfield Saddler (1868) on High Street, which Peter Allen immortalised in song, and the theatre on Rouse Street where Henry Parkes called for Federation in 1889. Its pubs, such as Royal Tenterfield, which dates back to 1849, might have had a spit and polish, but there’s enough hardware stores and trucks loaded with cattle rattling down its main street to prove this is still a hard-working farming town.

The archway of evergreens lining every roadway here channel the English countryside. And there’s a gentleness about Tenterfield that seems a bit un-Australian. When I take a walk to town – for I’m staying close by in a luxury suite at Old Council Chambers originally built in 1884 – the sun on my face lacks the sting of coastal towns such as Byron Bay and Coffs Harbour downhill from here.

Tenterfield’s thriving dining scene

On the main street, I backtrack as I walk past Stonefruit, distracted by its sleek, inner-Sydney-bar-like facade. Its thirtysomething owners Karlee McGee and Alistair Blackwell left Sydney’s Darlinghurst in 2022, attracted to Tenterfield by its small-town energy. Impressed by the remodelling of this century-old building, I stay for lunch in the courtyard out back, enveloped by old brick walls covered in grapevines and party lights.

Stonefruit champions growers from the nearby Granite Belt (Stanthorpe is 50 kilometres north) and New England regions – last year, they won Good Food Guide’s Drinks List of the Year category. “We’re looking forward to more and more like-minded people settling in the area," Blackwell tells me. “Though we’re not the same inner-city people we were even just a couple of years ago."

A short drive south, in Deepwater, another thirtysomething former city slicker, who once ran bars, built a brewery in a town of 450 locals made from tin he salvaged from an old shearing shed. It has become a magnet for lovers of craft beer in a region known for its wineries. “More young people are moving here," Deepwater Brewing founder Isaac Zietek tells me. “I got sick of city traffic; it’s no way to live your life. This area seemed a good place to come."

That evening, at The Commercial Boutique Hotel, a restored 1940s Art Deco hotel on Tenterfield’s main street, I enjoy a main course of orange and clove sous vide duck breast crafted by head chef, Jagdeep Singh Saini. Originally from Punjab, India, Jagdeep fuses French classical cooking techniques with local ingredients and an Asian influence. I wasn’t expecting the best country pub meal I’ve ever had here on a sleepy Tuesday night: but that’s what I get.

At Little Nook & Co, locals drink Allpress coffee with doors open to the street and the big brekkie wraps could feed a family, New Zealand-born owner Kendyl Weir assures me Tenterfield may be evolving into something bigger, but at its heart it’s still a country town. “Everyone still says hello to each other here," she says. “There’s tourism all round, but it still feels like a town for locals."

Tenterfield’s other highlights

Its food and wine attractions, mind you, weren’t even what got travellers here originally. In the distance, beyond the town’s pretty Victorian-era buildings, granite mountains loom on the horizon. The stark contrast – English-like surroundings meet rugged Australian bushland – must have made early settlers cautiously melancholic.

Adventure types put Tenterfield on the map. Six national parks surround the town. I climb the largest exposed granite monolith in the southern hemisphere in Bald Rock National Park and look out across the Northern Tablelands. The area is rich in Indigenous heritage, as Bald Rock was neutral ground for the Jukembal, Bundjalung and Kamilaroi peoples.

I also hike to where one-time resident Banjo Paterson proposed to his sweetheart overlooking a 210-metre waterfall in Boonoo Boonoo National Park. The 174 kilometres of world-class mountain-bike trails will also make Tenterfield one of Australia’s major MTB destinations when it opens in 2026. It is set to attract an extra 35,000 visitors to town per year.

There’s more: Tenterfield Railway Station Museum offers insights into life here 140 years ago, and Tenterfield Saddler lifts a lid on 19th century pastoralists. The whole town’s a living museum, with farm gates and wineries just a few minutes’ drive from the CBD. But what I like best of all is that Tenterfield’s not trying to be something it’s not. Is it the new Orange? No, more the old Tenterfield… just a bit different.

A traveller’s checklist

Getting there

Tenterfield is a 3.5-hour drive from Brisbane and the Gold Coast or eight-hour drive from Sydney. Or fly to Ballina Byron Gateway Airport and hire a car.

Staying there

Old Council Chambers offers two luxury accommodation options – a studio and one-bedroom apartment in a restored 1884 property.

Eating there

Stonefruit is open Sunday to Monday 10am to 3pm; and Thursday to Saturday 10am to late. Deepwater Brewing offers beer tastings and pizzas. The Commercial Boutique Hotel and the Royal Hotel serve dinner seven nights a week.