We stayed here for five nights and recommend it wholeheartedly.

The rooms are spotless and diligently fitted out (comfy bed and pillows, a small living-room, lots of towels, dishes, cutlery, board games, ironing board, even clothes lines -- you name it) and the surroundings are beautiful (fields, horses and cows all around, starry skies and peaceful quiet at night). Being able to leave our dog behind in her fenced, large front yard was a great plus.

Carolyn-Anne is a great host -- engaging to chat with, and kind to our dog (who misbehaved on two occasions), but leaves you be. She has a Kelpie, Minnie who is very friendly and loved to play fetch with us and was comfy with our dog. Next door neighbors offered us a horse ride, which we sadly couldn’t schedule for.

In terms of connectivity, it was 20 minutes to Kemspey for food and a nice one-hour drive (or less) to lots of national parks, Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie and South West Rocks. We appreciated being able to visit lots of nice spots but being back at The Ponds at day end, for its peace and quiet. There was no network on our phones -- which was a blessing in disguise as we truly switched off in the eves instead of falling down the instagram rabbit hole-- but she does have Wifi and phones start working in Kemspey.