Thorngrove Manor

(January, 2021)

Sometimes in this crazy epoch, you feel like heading for the hills.  Fortunately, if you live in or come to Adelaide, the hills are 10 minutes away. And you don’t have to sequester yourself in some hut like Ted Kaczynski’s cabin: instead, take the M1 Freeway from town to Thorngrove, between Stirling/Aldgate and Mt. Lofty and the townlet of Crafers. The Manor is a Gothic Revival dream – a kind of Strawberry Hill – but with its own bespoke design features that make guests feel they are King and Queen of the castle.

The angels are in the detail, of course: the Manor is decked-out with impeccable taste and great affection, from the Flanders tapestries and Parisian passmenteries, the Ormolu roccoco clocks, and bronze statuary to the dark English oak and French gilded furniture.  This is why Thorngrove has been a member of Small Luxury Hotels since 1995. See more on this at their website – link below:

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Warning: unless you are rich (and boy, have some rich people stayed here!) this is one for a special occasion.  This ain’t a Holiday Inn.

Second Alert: your calves may be singing after a day or two: there are many steps and such to negotiate, but this is an integral part of the charm.

Ideally located for trips to all points of the compass in the picturesque Adelaide hills, it is also a great place to laze, read, rest, reflect.

If you dine in, it’s a highlight:

(Did we mention stairs?)

A romantic folly indeed, rare and delightfully fey as Brigadoon – but it’s there all of the year.