Pick of the lifestyle bunch You don’t have to love fine wine and superb cuisine to appreciate Cessnock City’s lifestyle advantages. The many attractions of Hunter Wine Country, while certainly tempting, are just part of the picture when it comes to living in Cessnock. In fact, there’s something here to suit every palate.
Foremost is Cessnock’s relaxed, rural pace of life. Leave the stress and bustle of city life behind, while still enjoying all the best aspects of urban culture. Let the family spread out on one of the many semi-rural lots available in Cessnock’s picturesque villages. Open your window, breathe in the air and listen to the silence. Drive a short distance to sample the wares of some of Australia’s leading winemakers and award-winning chefs.
The climate is temperate with mild winters and warm summers. Mean annual temperatures range from a minimum of 11 to a maximum of 25. A variety of housing styles from city residential through to bush hideaway offers something for everyone. Whether you value the character of a heritage home, a rural retreat in the bush or want to create your dream home in a brand new estate, you’ll find what you’re looking for in the Cessnock LGA – at an affordable price.
Of course all the important practical aspects of living are taken care of. Cessnock has well-established health and education facilities, and excellent sporting venues. The City enjoys large expanses of open space offering parks, pools, playgrounds and sporting fields.
The Hunter is served by world-class education and training institutions with direct links to business. The University of Newcastle is renowned for its medical, engineering and architecture faculties while the Hunter Institute of Technology (TAFE) offers over 500 courses and annual enrolments totalling 50,000. There is also a vast array of public and private schools in the Region including four grammar schools and a local Agricultural College offering agri-business related courses.
We value our rich history, with Cessnock LGA home to more than 300 Aboriginal sites, some fine examples of convict-built structures and a strong coal mining heritage. The City’s natural environment, with its large areas of forest, grazing land and vineyards, has inspired many artists and craftsmen, with many of their works on show in the boutiques and galleries of Wine Country.
Sailors, fishermen, swimmers and surfers are all well served by the many rivers, lakes and beaches including those of the Great Lakes and Port Stephens. Lake Macquarie is one of the largest, coastal saltwater lakes in Australia, with about twice the area and volume of Sydney Harbour and 174 kilometres of foreshore.
The wild and beautiful Watagan Mountains encircle the Hunter and offer a range of leisure experiences from bushwalking, climbing and four-wheel driving to relaxing in a cliff-top hideaway.
Enjoy top international acts on your doorstep with Wine Country becoming an established and much-loved venue for performers. Recent concerts in the vines have included Elton John, Rod Stewart, kd lang, Steely Dan and Burt Bacharach. Opera and jazz are also regularly performed at the vineyards.
Cessnock City Council operates the tastefully refurbished Cessnock Performing Arts Centre (CPAC) on the corner of Aberdare and Vincent Streets in Cessnock. CPAC Theatre seats 466 people and there is also an outdoor entertaining space.
Cessnock Regional Art Gallery, located on Vincent Street, was opened in 2009 and offers visitors an added dimension to their cultural experience of Wine Country.
Newcastle, the Hunter’s capital, has undergone urban renewal to create an exciting entertainment hub in the heart of its working harbour and offers stimulating theatre, dining and musical options.
Sydney, with everything this metropolitan centre has to offer, is only two hour’s freeway drive away.
