Richmond Vale Railway Museum

Steeped in history, the federation gothic building housing Maitland Regional Art Gallery is an awe inspiring example of early 1900's architecture. Officially opened in 1910, the building was constructed to house the Maitland Technical College, which it continued to do until 1987. Known locally as MRAG, each year the gallery shows thousands of artworks and creates hundreds of learning activities across 25 exhibitions annually, while sharing the 4,000+ art collection. The award winning building is as much a part of the experience as the artworks on display. Located on High Street at the eastern end of Central Maitland, the gallery offers a great diversity of spaces. Be it exhibitions, workshops, café lunches, shopping, talks, tours or events, MRAG is friendly and inviting. All public areas of the gallery can be reached by stairs and lift, with fully accessible public amenities conveniently located on the ground floor. Entry to MRAG’s carpark is via a rear service lane off James Street, and includes two dedicated disabled parking spaces.

The eclectic collection reflects the area's rural history, including its dairying, timber and manufacturing industries. A wide range items are on display including household goods, photographic collections, dentist equipment and horse carts and buggies. Guided tours of the museum are available by appointment.

Learn how to create alcohol-infused candy at the Hunter Valley Resort's 90-minute Big Kids Candy cooking classes. Working alongside one of the resort's executive chefs, you will make peanut brittle, marshmallows and rocky road chocolate.

With a spectacular backdrop of vineyards and rugged mountain ranges, the Hunter Valley Golf and Country Club is a beautiful 18-hole championship course. Located at Crowne Plaza Hunter Valley, the fully accredited course measures 5,170 metres in length and is suited to golfers of all levels.

James Estate offers sweeping views of the spectacular mountain ranges and Baerami vineyard from the spacious cellar door sales and tasting area. Enjoy tasting the range of wines as you take in the natural beauty of the region. The ridge walk and mountain bike trails are accessible from the cellar door.

The centre presents travelling and local exhibitions, and art prizes (including the Muswellbrook Photographic Award and the biennial Muswellbrook Open Art Prize) along with periodic selections from the permanent collection.

The museum houses railway memorabilia from both the steam and diesel eras. The site includes the old Station Master's residence that has been restored to its 1930s exterior appearance and colour scheme. The Rail Motor Society offers visitors tours on board the historical rail motors around the local area and across the state.

This volunteer non-profit museum was formed in 1979 to preserve the railway and mining heritage of the Hunter Valley. The museum runs trains on the first three Sundays of each month and every Sunday during school holidays, as well as offering mid week tours and special night time events.

The museum is based within the old Council Chambers (formerly lock-up cells) and has a wide variety of interesting artefacts on the history of Singleton including an original horse-drawn ambulance cart, farm machinery and kitchenware.

Tocal is a 2,200-hectare property that features one of Australia's finest collections of colonial farm buildings dating from the 1830s. Book a tour to take in the highlights of the heritage site, including the Homestead, the Blackett Barn, Thunderbolt's Cottage and a range of original outbuildings and yards.

Werakata National Park is loved by locals and its perfect for a day trip from Sydney. There are great cycling and walking trails and in spring they're lined with purple, orange and yellow wildflowers, like acacias and banksias. Birdwatchers are never disappointed as the abundance of food in the park attracts endangered swift parrots, regent honeyeaters and many more colourful birds.

A steep and rugged landscape with wet and dry rainforest, rocky outcroppings, and eucalypt groves. Explore one of the many family friendly hiking tracks for the chance to see the park's animals including the wedge-tailed eagle, lyrebird and the endangered brush-tailed rock wallaby. River camping and barbecues make it great location for settling down over a long weekend.