Rache's castle was fantastic! If you're after an off the grid experience and something different, this is the place for you. Limited to no service which I loved!!! (the kids struggled but it forced them out of the house and do other activities which is great!). The private river bank is amazing. We spent alot of our time down there swimming and had a picnic. Even though we had a few days of rain it was covered enough to be able to swim when the water /current wasn't too heavy. Rache's place is easy enough to find with her directions. It's about 7-10 minute drive out of Bellingen and close for day trips to Sawtell and Urunga to have beach days. Rache and her husband live 100m away from the castle but it's so secluded by natives that you still have your privacy.
Rache was amazing and checked in with us prior to arrival and provided us with breakfast supplies which was so lovely and also over the course of our stay. She also would check-in and let us know nice places to go for dinner.
We visited over a busy period just after Christmas and left before NYE and were a family of 6 with 4 kids. The only thing that we didn't expect was how most of the restaurants were closed over that period and did not update their trading hours. I am a planner and tried to make reservations ahead of time but unsecessfully got through, so we found it difficult to get dinner or would need to wait over 1.5 hours. We also decided to have a bbq one night over our stay but the IGA was sold out of alot of things. As there isn't much service at the castle you just need to make reservations for dinner in advance or you can easily plan your dinners ahead of time and do your shopping prior as the kitchen facilities at the castle are great and the big dinning table for big groups if needed.
Thank you for a great off the grid stay. Overall it was an amazing stay and we will back.