There’s another Cabonne. It’s in France near Toulouse. It grows excellent maize and wheat.

Our Cabonne Country has excellent vineyards, orchards, a gold mine, three national parks, picturesque historic towns, and a museum of fossils up to 360 millions years old sourced from an ancient Canowindra lake.

This is the region that encompasses Canowindra, Molong, Borenore, Cargo, Cudal, Cumnock, Eugowra,  Manildra, Mullion Creek, Nashdale and Yeoval.

You’ll know you’re in real country Australia here, because the landscapes and streetscapes are so like old paintings and photographs, they’re almost turned up at the corners.

Canowindra, Molong and Nashdale … great choices for city folk drooling over the current fashion for village life.

And – if they think it’s all about simple country pleasures – wait until the food and wine arrives.

DAY 1

Leaving Orange through Nashdale and Borenore, you’ll barely get out of second gear with stops for heritage apples, truffles, pinot noir, cider, preserves, pinot gris, chardonnay, cherries, peaches, figs, jams, sauces and olive oils. Cut across to Canowindra and stroll its curved, heritage-listed main street which the locals have dubbed “Bendy Street”.  Many of the buildings date back to the 1840s, but this is quickly put back into perspective at the Age of Fishes Museum at the end of the street. Fossils here, uncovered during local road works, date back 360 million years. At Taste Canowindra in Ferguson Street you can taste and buy wines from local vineyards and enjoy meals made from fresh local produce. Midway between Canowindra and Molong, stop by the Cabonne Food Wine & Cultural Centre in Cudal’s Old Commercial Exchange Stores.

DAY 2

The National Trust-classified main street of Molong is alive with New Age blow-ins revelling in the old world charm. Visit the Cabonne Council offices (weekdays) or The Yarn Market (seven days) for a heritage walking tour map and discover the architectural  treasures dotted throughout the town. The Yarn Market Craft Cottage in the old Bank Street Coach House is just one of many art and craft galleries woven through this pleasant hillside community. Molong is also central to several acclaimed wine producers. At the imposing Freemason Hotel in Bank Street, the reds and whites sometimes outnumber the ambers. Parallel to the Mitchell Highway running to Wellington and Dubbo is the old road and rail route through Cumnock and Yeoval, classic Central West country towns as Australian as a prawn on a barbie. And on the Parkes road is Manildra, a town of 700 people and home of the Manildra Group, a diversified flour milling company with a staff of 800.