If you’re looking for the perfect time out, Bundanoon’s Solar Springs has you covered.
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With towering pines and views over the Moreton National Park, the retreat offers a tranquil experience among nature.
Visitors will be spoilt for choice with activities such as bushwalking, tennis, fitness classes, mountain biking, resistance training at the gym and aqua fit classes.
If you prefer to do things at your own pace, you can make use of the retreat’s quiet room, do some laps in the pool or relax in the spa or sauna.
After you explore the facilities, treat yourself to a massage and facial, or inform yourself with a naturopathy talk.
Three healthy meals and fresh fruit is supplied daily, and will leave you feeling nourished.
To help guests disconnect from the day-to-day stresses of life, rooms as Solar Springs Health Retreat do not have televisions, phones or other multi-media gadgets.
There is a no-talking quiet room to help people unwind, read in peace or enjoy a nap.
The retreat also boasts a lot of history, dating back to World War I.
Solar Springs was originally known as The Knoll and was built in 1892 for George and Dinah Osborn.
It was significant as one of the earliest of the guest houses which proliferated in Bundanoon in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Both English immigrants who had moved to Sydney, George and Dinah purchased the site, then 108 acres, for £106.54 (or about $190 today).
They also purchased the adjoining property of 96 acres which now forms the village centre.
George and Dinah moved to Bundanoon, then known as Jordan’s Crossing, in about 1870.
George built a large swelling on the crest above his property in 1892.
Completed in October 1892, it was advertised for sale but no sale occurred.
Although intended as a private residence, George and Dinah decided to operate it as ‘a superior guest house.’
They named it The Knoll and established an extensive garden and grounds.
George continued advertising The Knoll for sake from the early 1900s, but it remained part of his estate at his death at age 88 in 1915.
Dinah lived there until her death in 1919.
The Knoll was sold to Frank and Edith Wilcox in 1917.
The couple continued to run it as a guest house which catered for 60 guests until 1935.
Bruce and Dorothy Wearne purchased the property in 1935 and managed the guest house with Dorothy’s parents.
The guest house closed during World War II.
After the warm Dutch authorities leased it for seven months to house 400 recuperating Dutch ex-internees.
The Wearnes returned, completed renovations and reopened the property in 1946.
Sydney-based fitness centre, Solar Plexus, bought The Knoll in 1981 as a weekend retreat.
Renamed Solar Springs Country Club, its members were offered sport, bush walking, and other healthy activities.
In 1983, it became Solar Springs Health Resort, open to the general public.
It was not until July 2017 that the property was again advertised for sale.
It was sold to the Southern Highlands Hotel Holdings and continues to operate as Solar Springs Health Retreat.
The retreat is set to close on September 2, 2018.
New owners will transform the property into a luxury, boutique hotel which will open in 2019.
August will be the last opportunity to visit Solar Springs as it is.
Visit www.solarsprings.com.au to book or call 1800 044 944.
Brooke Gibbs was a guest of Solar Springs Health Retreat.