King bed
Breathe
A bay window facing straight out over the valleys and the treehouse. Mediterranean-feeling and full of light — the one to choose if you write best while staring into the middle distance.
Mt Tomah · 2 hours from Sydney
Escape to Write A solo writers' retreat in the Blue Mountains, near Sydney
A private studio of your own, for as many nights as your project needs. Novelists, screenwriters, poets and PhD candidates all come here for the same thing: uninterrupted, unbothered time. Arrive with a half-finished draft and do nothing but finish it — we'll handle the meals, the fire and the quiet.
How it works
One writer. One studio. Your own dates.
This isn't a course. There's no facilitator, no morning circle, no group exercise you have to be ready for by nine. You book the nights you want, you close your door, and the day is yours. Bronwen and Robert are writers too, so they know exactly how much company that means: some, occasionally, and none the rest of the time.
- Three nights minimum, and you check in at midday. Writers get an early check-in — noon instead of our usual 3pm — so the afternoon of day one isn't lost. The first few hours always go on unwinding, which is exactly why we ask for three nights rather than two.
- Write at any time of day. Nobody is waiting on you. If your best hours are 11pm to 4am, that's fine — meals are left for you, not served to you.
- Nothing to organise. Meals, firewood, wifi, printing, sauna. It's all here, and none of it needs a decision from you.
- Stay longer if it's going well. Plenty of guests book a week, or write through the week and have a partner join them for the weekend.
Where you'll work
Three studios. Pick the one that suits your book.
Each has its own entrance, bathroom, fireplace, wardrobe and kitchen utilities in the sideboard — plus an electric desk that rises to standing height, and a proper writer's chair rather than something decorative.
Queen bed
Relax
Light-filled and opening onto the garden, watch the chickens as they enjoy sun bathing, with a raindrop shower to stand under when a sentence won't come. The gentlest of the three.
King bed
Chill
A clawfoot bath with a handheld shower, a signature fireplace and a private entrance. Dark, warm, moody and a little theatrical — good for long soaks after a hard chapter.
Thesis writers welcome
Writing a PhD? You're in good company.
More and more of our guests are postgraduate students on a thesis deadline, and it makes complete sense: a PhD writing retreat needs exactly what a novelist needs, only with more coffee and worse posture. Long unbroken stretches, no housemates, no shared kitchen, and nobody asking how the chapter is going.
You're less than two hours from Sydney — close enough to come for at least three nights mid-semester, far enough that nobody can drop by.
- A real desk, not a hotel table. Electric sit-stand desk and a proper ergonomic chair in every studio — the difference between three hours of work and eight.
- Print your chapters. Send drafts from your studio to our office printer over wifi if you need.
- Total silence if you want it. No shared spaces you have to cross, no communal meals to attend.
- Enforced breaks. Sauna, labyrinth, treehouse and a pig. Twenty minutes away from the argument is often what unsticks it.
A day here
Nothing to interrupt you, and no one to feed.
The shape of the day is entirely yours. This is just what tends to happen when nobody has to cook, commute or explain themselves.
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MORNING
Breakfast is already in your studio. Sourdough, croissants and choc croissants, jams, cheese, eggs. Toastie maker, induction hotplate, toaster, kettle and microwave — make it whenever you surface.
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MIDDAY
A hot pie arrives from the bakery. From The Hive or The Grumpy Baker, five minutes down the road, with Bilpin apple juice. Left for you, without too much distracting conversation.
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AFTERNOON
Get up and move when it stalls. Walk the labyrinth, sit in the infrared sauna, climb into the treehouse, or print your draft when your eyes have had enough of the screen.
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EVENING
Dinner is brought to your door. A hot vegetarian meal and dessert. Eat it at your desk mid-sentence if that's where you are.
“The scariest moment is always just before you start.”Stephen King
When the words stop
Somewhere to go that isn't your desk.
Every writer knows the difference between resting and avoiding. The property is set up for the first kind — short, physical, screen-free things you can do in twenty minutes and come back changed.
- The living labyrinth. A 200-metre walk between 800 dwarf buxus, laid out on a 3,000-year-old Cretan design. You can't get lost, which is rather the point.
- The garden sauna. Infrared, tucked in the greenery, free to use.
- The treehouse. Rustic, quiet, and a good place to read your own pages back on a summer day.
- The animals. Flora the pig, Beau the mini-pony, the chickens and the cats. Excellent listeners, no notes.
- The Botanic Gardens. Blue Mountains Botanic Garden is 2 minutes drive away for when you need to feel you've gotten out and about.
Booking & rates
Book the studio, add the meals, & email us you're writing.
Book your nights through the website like any other stay. Nightly rates vary by studio and by season, so the live calendar always has the real number — no waiting on a quote. Just let us know you're coming to write and we'll have the desk and chair set up before you arrive.
The stay
3 nights or moreMinimum, with early check-in at midday instead of our usual 3pm. Stay longer whenever you can — most writers wish they had.
All three meals
$60 a dayBreakfast supplies in your studio are always included free of charge. Optional, book a meal deal with a hot bakery pie for lunch, and a vegetarian dinner with dessert brought to your door.
Your studio
Live ratesIncluded either way: the writing desk and chair, fireplace, wifi, printing, the infrared sauna and the run of the grounds.
How to book
Four steps, and none of them are hard.
There's no application and no waiting to hear back. You book like any other guest, then send one short email so we know to set the room up for writing.
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Choose your dates and your studio
Pick Breathe, Relax or Chill and book three nights or more on the availability calendar. It opens in a new tab, so you won't lose this page.
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Email Bronwen and say you're a writer
One line to tomahretreat@gmail.com is enough. Tell her whether you'd like the meal deal at $60 a day, and mention any dietary needs while you're there.
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Get your writing ready
Bring the draft, the notes, the research, the thing you've been avoiding. The desk, the chair, the wifi and the printer are already here — you only need to bring the work.
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Arrive after midday — your hot pie will be waiting
Writers check in from noon rather than the usual 3pm. Lunch is there when you walk in, the fire is laid, and the rest of the day is yours.
Before you book
The things writers always ask.
Do I have to socialise with anyone?
No. Meals are left for you rather than served at a table, and each studio has its own entrance, so you can go a whole stay without a conversation. If you'd like one, Bronwen and Robert are both writers and are happy to talk shop.
Is there decent wifi, and can I print?
Yes to both. There's wifi throughout, and you can send drafts from your studio to a fully equipped office to print when you'd rather read on paper.
What if I'm not a "real" writer yet?
Then you're exactly who this is for. Plenty of guests arrive with a first draft, a half-idea, or a project they've been carrying around for years without a place to put it. Nobody assesses your work here.
How long do I need to stay?
Three nights is the minimum, and there's a reason for it. The first afternoon almost always goes on decompressing rather than writing — unpacking, walking around, staring at the valley. Three nights means you still get two full working days after that. Writers also get an early check-in at midday rather than our usual 3pm, so day one starts properly. You're welcome to book a week or more.
I'm writing a PhD thesis — is this suitable?
Very. Thesis writers are now a good share of our guests. You get a sit-stand desk, an ergonomic chair, reliable wifi, printing, and nobody to interrupt you.
What does it cost?
Nightly rates depend on which studio you choose and when you come, so the live availability calendar on this site is always the accurate answer. Meals are a flat $60 a day on top if you want them, and everything else — desk, chair, firewood, wifi, printing, sauna — is included.
I have dietary requirements.
Dinners are vegetarian as standard. Tell us what you need when you book and we'll sort it out — there's plenty of flexibility with breakfast and lunch too.
Can my partner come?
Yes. A common pattern is writing solo through the week and having someone join for the weekend. Each studio takes two adults.
How far is it from Sydney?
Less than two hours' drive. We're at Charleys Rd, Mt Tomah, on Bells Line of Road, right beside the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden and a few minutes from Bilpin. Close enough for a mid-week escape from Sydney, far enough that you feel renewed and focussed all at the same time.
What writers say
They came to finish something. Most of them did.
I had been stuck on the same three chapters since February. I know I kept bragging about it but I wrote eleven thousand words in four days here, and I think it was the fact that nobody expected anything of me.
Four nights was exactly right for me. The first afternoon I walked the labyrinth twice and got nothing done, and I'd have felt guilty about that anywhere else. By the second morning I had my methodology chapter open and I didn't look up until it was dark. Thanks for everything, especially the yummy meals.
What I didn't expect was how much the animals helped. When a scene wasn't working I'd go pat Beau for ten minutes and come back knowing what was wrong with it. I've since tried this at home with a cat and it is not the same.
Give the story the time it's been asking for.
Maya Angelou said there is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you. A few days at a quiet writers' retreat outside Sydney, with the door closed and the meals handled, is usually enough to start telling it.