Bronwyn & Max are both amazed with the beauty of nature and the resourcefulness of people. We met out the back of Bourke (country NSW) & been happy living in the city, but are pleased to be able to get back to the country.
As you see we are colourful people who are both artists who love to create, Max in wood and Bronwyn in paints, textiles, & lots of other medium, selling their work locally in the Hunter. Some of their work can be found throughout the property as well as Bronwyn's in tehlocal Dungog by Design.
Max is also a labyrinth enthusiast & works as counsellor, while Bronwyn is studying & teaching in the art sector at the University of Newcastle.
We enjoy and have spent a lot of our lives helping people (ourselves included) connect with community, family, partners, and nature, all while encouraging people to be creative and go deeper.
So there are 2 labyrinths on the property- 1 marked out on the slope as you come up to the house, & the other laid into the ground on the left of the driveway down to the cabins. Feel free to walk one or both of them. Take your time.
We also run creative nature & creative spiritual workshops & retreats here & elsewhere .

This is a 30 year dream come true- we have wanted to have a country place where individuals, families and groups connect with people, nature, creativity and community. We like to gather our children and grandchildren, parents and wider family here and want others to experience that too. Finding a cedar clad place on 100 acres was amazing- there were good 'bones' in place to create a charming, welcoming and artistic feel, a place where there can be nurture of the land, relationships and the soul.
Most of the property, while secondary growth, is natural bushland with various habitats; bush, dry sclerophyll and wet gullies, creek, grasslands, steep and more gentle hillsides; so we have cut some walks through for people to enjoy and connect with it themselves. While we and others have spotted over 30 different bird species we don't believe we have seen them all yet. As well as birds the wallabies are so wonderful, grazing most morning and evenings, often with their joeys and these are less skittish the longer we are there.
Bronwyn's great grandmother was born around this area, so there are other ways it is a re-connection for us as well.
Fosterton Retreat also inspires our creativity and we want to be able to encourage this in others while providing a place and opportunities for personal, relational, communal, environmental transformation & restoration. Fosterton Retreat gives us a chance to do all this.

It's hard to go past the clean air, the great views, the wallabies grazing, the numerous native birds & the 100 acres these cabins sit in with different habitats, eg: a wet gully, a hilly grassland & magnificent views. BUT the buildings themselves also attracted us. We fell in love with these cabins as each are based on the traditional Australian settler cabin, with good-sized rooms, dado rails, verandahs to help keep it cool, & provide a place to enjoy the view or the breeze. Being clad in cedar (originally red cedar was common in this area) is a bonus.
We are putting our own touch on this place, welcoming, practical touches- like places to put your bags in each room, as well as artistic touches, that make this even more unique- like themed rooms, carefully chosen artworks and colourful doona covers that add to the effect of the decor.
As we work to establish more plants in and around the property, these are purposely chosen for their suitability for the area and to attract more wildlife, especially birds. Mostly we are putting in plants indigenous to this area, but there we have included a couple of others for their therapeutic and symbolic nature.
This is not a sterile environment and will not look or feel like every other house you've been to (maybe like no other house you've been to) & we think that is great.