Farm Stays in Canberra Region, ACT

Canberra was built inside a sheep paddock, and the paddocks never left. Ring the capital in any direction and you're in working country within twenty minutes: the Murrumbidgee River corridor and the pine-and-poplar valleys toward Tharwa and the Brindabellas in the south, the historic grazing runs around Hall and Murrumbateman to the north, and the windswept merino country out through Bungendore toward Braidwood and Lake George in the east. It's high, dry tableland farming — sheep, cattle, and a fast-rising cool-climate wine district around Murrumbateman known for riesling and shiraz.

A farm stay near Canberra makes an unusually good two-speed holiday. Mornings and evenings belong to the property — feeding rounds, eggs, frosty paddocks steaming as the sun comes up — while the middle of the day can absorb the national institutions: the War Memorial, Questacon, the galleries and Lake Burley Griffin, all within about half an hour of most surrounding farm country. Bungendore adds a village main street of galleries and pubs; Braidwood, forty minutes on, is a whole heritage-listed town.

The district is also genuine horse country — pony clubs, endurance rides and equestrian properties are thick on the ground from Bungendore to Murrumbateman, and some hosts can yard a travelling horse. Seasons are sharply drawn at this altitude: minus-five frosts and brilliant blue winter days, an autumn that turns the region's poplars and oaks gold, spring lambing everywhere, and dry summer heat that fades into cool nights.