Shellcot Cottage, Katoomba reivew: Chilling out, mountain style

Shellcot, in Katoomba.Credit: Nick Galvin

Nick Galvin finds he's not alone when it comes to embracing winter and celebrating with friends.

I've come to realise that, just like an apple tree, I need a minimum number of hours of chilling each year to thrive. Put it down to living in the desolate snowbound wastes of northern England for the first half of my life but somewhere in my DNA lurks the urge to experience a proper, cold winter each year - if only for a few days.

So when friends suggest we decamp to Katoomba - a trip timed to coincide with the Winter Magic Festival - I immediately begin digging out the down jackets while visualising pink cheeks and large glasses of merlot.

Shellcot's lounge room, with open fire.Credit: Nick Galvin

Arriving in Katoomba, it looks as though my desire for a good chilling is going to be more than satisfied. The air is colder than a mother-in-law's kiss, which makes it all the more irritating to discover that the letting agent has given us the wrong key.

After a few minutes spent standing around admiring the view and considering how much we would rather be admiring the inside of the house, the cleaner appears and lets us in.

Shellcot is an elegant brick cottage perched on the escarpment on the edge of Katoomba, with stunning views of the Jamison Valley. To my untutored eye, the original house probably dates to the 1920s, with a much newer extension at the back.

One of three generous-size bedrooms at Shellcot.Credit: Nick Galvin

Shellcot has three generous-size bedrooms, a large dining room and a separate lounge room with open fire. Our bedroom turns out to be in the extension (with en suite), which has glass doors leading to the rest of the house and, unaccountably, no curtain or blind for privacy. Just as stone-throwing and glass houses are not a good combination, there are things those in glass bedrooms should avoid.

The other slightly disappointing thing is the lack of sufficient heating. We're in the Blue Mountains, where it is not unreasonable to expect adequate heating, or at least something more than a small gas fire and a couple of column heaters.

The lounge room, with its open fire, deep lounges, wood panelling and elegant window seat, just about compensates for the rest of the house. It's an area tailor-made for playing Scrabble and drinking red wine, which is what the adult members of the party promptly set about doing, while the junior component gets to grips with one of the jigsaws they find on the bookshelf.

Not me, however. I had promised myself a run along the Prince Henry Cliff Walk before dinner, which was spectacular even in the drizzle and dying light. Then it's back to Shellcot to defrost in front of the fire and catch up on wine consumption while flaunting my moral superiority and telling anyone who will listen that at least I have earned it.

The house is a short walk from the centre of Katoomba, which is a good thing because no-one in their right mind would try to drive anywhere during the next day's festival. The main street is closed to traffic and lined with possibly the world's biggest collection of stalls devoted exclusively to tie-dyed clothes, scented candles or Turkish gozleme bread. As we launch ourselves into the crowd, I resolve to start work immediately on a plan to franchise dozens of gozleme/tie-dye/candle stalls and ride on the back of the hippie dollar to early retirement.

According to the festival website, the point of Winter Magic is to encourage "social and cultural expression". However, from where we are standing in the middle of 40,000 people, it seems mainly to encourage the wearing of some of the most egregiously stupid headgear known to man. Later, there is a parade, which is of the equal-opportunity variety. If you fancy dressing up and going for a wander down Katoomba's main street, maybe playing a drum or jigging about a bit, you are very welcome to do so. It all goes off with good humour, however, and the music we manage to catch later is great, as are the fireworks on the roof of the Carrington Hotel that close the day's festivities.

The next day, as we wander Katoomba's main street in search of coffee, there is only the odd daft hat in evidence to remind us of the previous day's frolics. Then there is just time for a quick walk before joining the traffic crawl to Sydney to pack away the warm clothes for another year.

Weekends Away are reviewed anonymously and paid for by Traveller.

VISITORS' BOOK Shellcot

Address 3 Carrington Avenue, Katoomba.

The verdict A well-positioned, old-world charmer with classic Blue Mountains atmosphere.

Price $600 for four people for a two-night weekend.

Bookings Phone [phone]; see bluemountainsgetaways.com.

Getting there Katoomba is an easy two-hour drive west from Sydney.

Wheelchair access No.

Perfect for Bushwalkers, red-wine drinkers, mountain lovers.

While you're there Go bushwalking or mountain-bike riding. Take high tea at the Carrington Hotel. Go fossicking in Mr Pickwick's Fine Old Books, Katoomba.