North Regional

Farmers’ Home Hotel

Check-in and chill out at Farmers’ Home Hotel with luxurious, modern rooms that celebrate the history of this 150-year-old country hotel.

It’s lived a life at the centre of this Avon Valley town, which wouldn’t have always been as bouji an experience as it is now. A place where farmers would lay their heads when they came to Northam (hence the name), it’s now as likely to be city guests seeking a different pace as they drive or take the train from Perth for a few nights. For international guests, it gives an Australian experience beyond the capital cities.

For those with access to the first-floor wrap-around verandah, there’s the opportunity to slump into deckchairs and just take in the light at sunrise or sunset which is captivating wherever you’re from. Rooms are spacious and light-filled, with high ceilings, restored period features, and modern bathrooms. Aesop body care products, high-quality linens, and Bang & Olufsen speakers are the added oomph in the boutique experience. Each room has a big screen TV that’s discreetly hung and access to a library of free-to-air new-release movies.

Need to Knows

  • 16 rooms across 4 room types: Cottage Rooms, Parlour Rooms, Farmhouse Rooms, The Homestead Room.
  • Check-in: 2pm; Check-out: 10am.
  • Hotel bar and café onsite.
  • Boardroom and function room onsite.

What’s There

Northam is a mecca for hot air ballooning between April and November. In those months you’ll find many guests are here for the experience of early morning flights that take in the rolling hills and rivers. Liberty Balloons leave for the launch site from the Dome cafe. From the first-floor verandah rooms you can see as the balloons take flight to the east, their burners glowing as they ascend. With Spring comes Western Australia’s famed wildflowers.

What’s Around

Less than 100km from Perth, Northam and the Avon Valley is a road trip that many could be discovering for the first time. On Ballardong Budjar (country) the region has a rich mix of indigenous cultural history and the stories of those who came later that can be discovered in towns like Toodyay, York, New Norcia, Beverley, Brookton, and Goomalling. Farmers’ Home Hotel is the perfect basecamp for exploring the region.

It might be less than 90 minutes’ drive from the city, but it pays to mark Bakers Hill as a rest and refreshment break. For many years it was the Bakers Hill Pies Shop that was the classic draw but Mrs’Sippy BBQ has added to the culinary mix, serving bona fide trays of brisket and classic American sides that has made it a destination for some.

What’s Super Special

As with sister property Premier Mill Hotel in Katanning, there’s a real sense of a curated experience that takes you beyond the hotel. Each room has an exhaustively researched guide to the region with suggestions of excursions. Staff here are not just clued up on the history of the property but also the region. A property that continues to be at the centre of life in the region.

Children

For those travelling with children the Homestead Room which comprises of two bedrooms is perfect to keep the family together but not in such close confines.

Breakfast

On the ground floor of the hotel is the impressive Dome café. Breakfast is an all-day fixture from hearty cooked fare to pancake stacks and pastries. There’s also the trademark Dome welcome.

Eating and Drinking

The Temperance Bar is for a country town like Northam, a doubletake moment. Conceived and executed like the best of boutique hotel bars, with leather chairs to relax in and long tables to gather around, it’s an ideal resting point after a long day on the road or exploring the region. There’s wine on tap and by the bottle from the Swan Valley, Perth Hills and Great Southern wine regions. All great for a late afternoon or evening of discovery, perhaps with their epic cheese plate to stave off hunger.

Things to Book

As it’s seasonal, it pays to book ahead for hot air ballooning and for stays at Farmers’ Home Hotel as peak months are busy.

Notes

Don’t leave town without checking out the works of international artists Phlegm and HENSE which adorn the CBH silos on the edge of town. Large format murals, the work was created in 2015 as part of the PUBLIC Silo Trail that runs through the Wheatbelt to Albany. Road trip anyone?