Meet Jo and Jim, owners of the gorgeous 25 acre property, ‘Gypsy Willows – The House’ and ‘Gypsy Willows – The Villa’. It features beautiful gardens and views; 2 hours from Sydney, and just 3kms from the historic Wollombi village in Hunter Valley Wine Country.
Enjoy a BBQ or glass of wine on the covered entertainment area, gazing out at the peaceful view of beautiful Narone Creek valley and Gypsy Willows own 20 acres of farmland. Horses and cows graze in the foreground and kangaroos visit most days.
The owners? Meet Jo and Jim. Jo and Jim are retired professionals living in Wollombi, after having moved from Sydney. The pair came to Wollombi to visit friends for the weekend a few years ago and returned home having purchased a gorgeous cottage/weekender on top of a hill.
Their young daughter got the pair into horses, but the property that they had spontaneously purchased was unsuitable for that, leading them to sell the weekender in hopes of purchasing something a little more suitable later down the track.
“I wanted to build a house and garden from scratch on virgin land, which we did on our 100 acres, a property we love”
On that same property, Jo and Jim decided to breed gypsy cob horses (those used for pulling gypsy caravans in Britain).

A couple years later, 25 beautiful acres across the road became available…where Jim and Jo built a second home, but this time it lead them into the accommodation business.

I mostly enjoyed developing the gardens, which I do myself – and have contributed to the building of the houses as possible, but my skills are limited, being a “suit”
Can you guess where the name came from?
In struggling to find a name for the accommodation property, they used the connection with the horses as inspiration, and ‘Gypsy Willows’ was born!
We have tried to make the houses as luxurious as we could for country cottages and have tried to include all the obvious little extras including pay TV. We also went for more modern, light houses which we think people are now looking for and which is different from most country accommodation places.
Gypsy Willows is a totally private property, and is not overlooked by anyone. The property is based among expansive valley views, which is home to a large number of eastern grey kangaroos, which graze the valley in a large mob of up to 50, as well as horses and cows grazing Gypsy Willows paddocks.
More generally as a retiree and retired to the country it helps to keep in touch with the world.
I guess you could call the whole thing so far a bit of a hobby and a “labour of love”.
Jo and Jim would love to welcome you to stay at their beautiful home in the Hunter Valley, so get booking as their property has been booked out every weekend since June 2018!
Staying with a larger group? Gypsy Willows – The House is likely to be more suitable for you.
Heading to the Hunter with a smaller group? Gypsy Willows – The Villa is perfect for just that!