Ninth boutique hotel for Spicers Retreats

The Spicers Retreats enterprise, which operates luxury accommodation in Southeast Queensland, Sydney and the Blue Mountains, bought a second luxury property in the wine-rich NSW Hunter Valley to add to its luxury portfolio in 2016.

Spicers Retreats head Jude Turner — wife of Graham Turner, co-founder and managing director of Australia’s largest travel agency, Flight Centre — forked out $6.5m two years ago for the 48-room former Peppers Guest House fronting Ekerts Road, Pokolbin, in the Hunter Valley, which had been operated by Peppers for the past 30 years.

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The new boutique estate, to be known as Spicers Guesthouse Retreat, adjoins Spicers Vineyards Estate in Hermitage Road, Pokolbin, which is set among rolling vineyards and has been operated by the Turners since 2010.

Turner has converted the former Peppers-branded retreat into a 49-room property including a four-bedroom standalone cottage. The estate opens in November.

Turner says the renovation pays homage to its roots as a meeting place for local winemakers.

“The extensive refurbishment includes a vastly elevated design to match the surrounding mountain ranges and vineyards, and state-of-the-art conference facilities, a large-scale events or wedding gazebo, and private dining room with elaborate wine wall, housing locally produced wines from Australia’s oldest wine region,” Turner says.

King rooms at Spicers Guesthouse Retreat will start at $339 a night, and will go on sale from September.

The opening of the second Hunter Valley property brings the number of Spicers Retreats operating in NSW to four with a further five operating in Southeast Queensland. Some of the Spicers Retreats started out as classic Queenslanders.

This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.