Southern Highlands · Burrawang · Robertson · Kangaroo Valley
A Regenerative Southern Highlands Food and Cocktail Route
The Highlands is becoming one of Australia's most interesting food landscapes. This guide connects the farms, lunches, accommodation and cocktail experiences that give the region its depth, with Trolley'd as the aviation-themed hospitality thread from produce to glass.
Something is shifting in the Southern Highlands. With Three Blue Ducks landing at Burradoo Park Farm, the region is no longer just shorthand for antique shops, cool-climate wine and a pretty drive from Sydney. It is becoming a serious food landscape again: farms, bakeries, growers, chefs, accommodation and guests who pay attention to where things come from.
Trolley'd belongs in that conversation because the glass is part of the landscape too. We have been working inside it for years, building drinks around what the region actually grows rather than chasing a trend that arrived last season. This guide is how we would route a weekend, a family day or a corporate reset through the Highlands, with the farms, lunches and stays we rate, and where a Trolley'd cocktail experience fits into it.
The region
Why the Southern Highlands matters now
The Highlands has quietly become one of the strongest regional food destinations within two hours of Sydney. The reasons are practical, not sentimental, and they are why the region now reads as a genuine weekend and retreat market rather than a day trip.
Regenerative farming
Growers working with soil, seasonality and low-intervention methods have given the region real produce credibility, not just a postcard.
Provenance you can taste
Chefs, bakeries and producers are building menus around what is grown nearby, and guests increasingly ask where it came from.
Accommodation-led travel
Boutique stays and farm accommodation turn a lunch into a weekend, which is where regional spend actually lives.
Premium regional weekends
Couples and small groups want a route with substance: a farm, a good lunch, a stay and something they could not do at home.
Corporate retreats
Leadership teams are trading meeting rooms for place, reset and provenance, with a story worth taking back to the business.
Provenance in the glass
Food led the shift. Drinks are next. A cocktail built on regional fruit and native botanicals carries the same story as the plate.
Where Trolley'd fits
Trolley'd is the experience layer, not the travel agent
Trolley'd is a premium aviation-themed experiential hospitality company. We connect regional produce to the glass, and we use restored airline trolleys and aviation assets to turn drinks into something guests remember and photograph. That covers cocktail classes, corporate retreat drinks programs, wedding and private event bars, brand activations and hosted native botanical experiences across Sydney, the Southern Highlands, the Kangaroo Valley escarpment country below the Highlands, and surrounding regions.
We recommend the farms, lunches and stays on this page because we work alongside them, not because we book them. Trolley'd is the hospitality thread that ties a route together, built and led by Byron Woolfrey, whose background runs through Tetsuya's, Pier and Merivale. The producers do what they do best. We turn the result into a drink with a story you can trace.
The proof, named
Kindred Cocktails at Moonacres, Robertson
This is what regenerative hospitality looks like when it is real and named, rather than a word on a menu. Trolley'd built the Kindred Cocktails class with Moonacres School, using fruit grown on the same property the class was held in. It is one of the region's most important proof points for how we work.
- Venue
- Moonacres School inside The SHAC, 74-76 Illawarra Highway, Robertson
- Produce
- Seconds rhubarb and apple grown on the same property, used with purpose rather than discarded
- Producers
- Something Wild, Blak Brews, Teacraft, 100 Souls and Kangaroo Valley Coffee Cooperative
- Foraged
- Hand-foraged calendula and riberry infused into 100 Souls gin
- Format
- Founder-led class with take-home kits, so surplus syrup and botanicals become a second drink rather than waste
- Supply chain
- A native espresso martini running roughly 80km from bean to glass
This is procurement-grade sustainability proof, not vague eco language. It is the model behind our private, wedding and corporate work across the region.
See the Kindred Cocktails case study at Moonacres.
Explore Trolley'd regenerative cocktail experiences in the Southern Highlands.
The route
Where to eat, stay and explore
A short, opinionated list of the places we send people to. Recommendations, not bookings. Trolley'd is the experience layer that connects them.
Moonacres, Robertson
Produce, lunch and cooking classes, and the site of Trolley'd's Kindred Cocktails class. The clearest single stop for understanding why we treat produce as the starting point.
Mussett Holdings, Colo Vale
Mussett Holdings supplies honey to Trolley'd and offers farm tours that let guests step inside the working food systems of the Highlands: bees, raw honey, eggs, market gardens, mushrooms and farm animals.
The What If Society, Moss Vale
A strong lunch stop for visitors wanting a food-focused Highlands day built around produce, community and local flavour. A recommended regional stop.
Wild Ducks Burrawang
An accommodation partner for suitable Trolley'd experiences, subject to availability and event fit. A boutique way to stay in the village and treat the Highlands as a weekend rather than a rushed day trip.
Burradoo Park Farm and Three Blue Ducks
Part of the wider regenerative attention now on the region. Worth knowing about as context for where Highlands food is heading. Not a Trolley'd partner.
Lake David and Kangaroo Valley
Escarpment retreat country below the Highlands, on Lake Yarrunga. Useful for corporate retreats, immersive groups and premium regional experiences a short drive down the hill.
Suggested routes
Southern Highlands flight plans
Four ways to route the region, depending on who is travelling. Each route now gives readers useful onward links instead of trapping them in a dead list.
The Regenerative Highlands Weekend
- Arrive into Bowral or Burrawang
- Lunch at Moonacres or The What If Society
- Moonacres and a wander through Robertson
- Stay at Wild Ducks Burrawang where suitable
- A Trolley'd farm-to-glass cocktail experience
- Optional Mussett Holdings farm tour
- Three Blue Ducks at Burradoo Park Farm as regional context
The Producer-Led Family Route
- Mussett Holdings farm tour
- Honey tasting and working-farm systems
- Lunch at Moonacres or The What If Society
- A village stop in Burrawang, Robertson or Moss Vale
- Trolley'd non-alcoholic botanical drinks or a family-friendly mocktail session where suitable
The Corporate Reset
- Stay at Wild Ducks Burrawang or a suitable regional property
- Retreat format at Lake David or Kangaroo Valley where appropriate
- A producer visit or farm context stop
- Lunch at Moonacres or a regional table
- A Trolley'd regenerative cocktail class or hosted native botanical program
- Optional dinner drinks service
The Celebration Route
- Guests stay at Wild Ducks Burrawang where suitable
- A local lunch or recovery brunch at Moonacres or The What If Society
- The Trolley'd airline trolley cocktail bar for the main event
- A farm-to-glass menu on seasonal Highlands produce and Mussett honey
- Native botanicals and considered non-alcoholic options
For corporate buyers
Southern Highlands corporate retreats
Companies are no longer just booking meeting rooms and a catering run. They are buying place, reset, provenance, an internal story worth retelling, and execution that does not create work for the organiser. A retreat in the Highlands earns its budget when the region does something a boardroom cannot.
Trolley'd delivers the hospitality layer of that retreat: a regenerative cocktail class that doubles as a team experience, a hosted native botanical drinks program, aviation trolley bar service for the evening, and a provenance story that supports internal comms and ESG reporting without overclaiming.
Best fit
- Leadership offsites
- ESG-aligned retreats
- Client hosting weekends
- Internal culture resets
Where it works
- Bowral and Burrawang stays
- Regional estates and farms
- Lake David and Kangaroo Valley
- Accommodation-led itineraries
What Trolley'd handles
- Hosted cocktail class
- Native botanical NoLo program
- Airline trolley bar service
- Evening drinks and storytelling
The commercial reason
A corporate retreat needs a story people can repeat on Monday. Farms, produce, native botanicals and aviation service give the organiser that story without creating another production headache.
The method
Farm-to-glass is a sourcing discipline
Farm-to-glass is not garnish theatre. It is a decision about where the ingredients come from before anyone thinks about presentation. In the Highlands that has meant Moonacres seconds rhubarb and apple, Mussett Holdings honey, native botanicals from named producers, and inputs foraged and prepared by the Trolley'd crew.
Around that sit preserved syrups and ferments that carry a season forward, low-waste preparation that plans for the surplus rather than binning it, and non-alcoholic botanical drinks designed with the same care as the cocktails. The airline trolley service is how it reaches the guest, so the provenance and the theatre arrive together.
Capability
What Trolley'd can bring to a Southern Highlands event
Airline trolley cocktail bars
Restored airline trolleys as a mobile service format with genuine visual identity, not a trestle and a banner.
Aviation-themed mobile bars
Aviation assets that give a room a centre of gravity from arrival and photograph as an activation.
Farm-to-glass cocktail menus
Menus built on regional produce, native botanicals and Mussett honey, with the sourcing traceable.
Native botanical cocktail classes
Producer-led classes that double as a team or guest experience, in the Kindred Cocktails model.
Corporate retreat drinks programs
Hosted drinks across a retreat, tuned to the group, the venue and the schedule.
Wedding and private event bars
Aviation trolley service and a seasonal menu for celebrations that want more than a standard bar.
Brand activations
Aviation assets deployed as a production tool for launches and experiential campaigns.
Non-alcoholic botanical drinks
A full NoLo program built with the same sourcing discipline as the cocktails, not an afterthought.
Cocktail theatre and storytelling
Hosted, narrated service that connects each drink to the landscape it came from.
Questions
Southern Highlands FAQ
What are the best things to do in the Southern Highlands?
Food and produce around Bowral, Burrawang and Robertson, farm tours, cool-climate dining, waterfalls and villages, and increasingly regenerative food destinations. This guide routes them into a weekend rather than a scattered list.
What is a regenerative Southern Highlands food route?
A trip planned around where food and drink come from: farms, growers, produce-led lunches and a cocktail experience built on regional ingredients, rather than a generic tourist circuit.
Does Trolley'd offer cocktail classes in the Southern Highlands?
Yes. Trolley'd runs native botanical and farm-to-glass cocktail classes across the region for private groups, retreats and events. The Kindred Cocktails class at Moonacres is the clearest example.
Can I visit the farms Trolley'd works with?
Some do offer tours. Mussett Holdings in Colo Vale runs farm tours that pair naturally with a Trolley'd experience. Moonacres offers produce, lunch and classes. These are recommended stops, arranged with the venue directly.
Does Trolley'd use Mussett Holdings honey?
Yes. Mussett Holdings supplies honey to Trolley'd, and Mussett honey features in Trolley'd farm-to-glass drinks where suitable.
Can a Trolley'd experience include Moonacres?
Trolley'd has a standing relationship with Moonacres and ran the Kindred Cocktails class there. A Moonacres lunch, class or visit can be recommended alongside a Trolley'd experience where suitable.
Is The What If Society a good lunch stop?
Yes, for a food-focused Highlands day. It is a recommended regional stop in Moss Vale, arranged with the venue directly, not a Trolley'd booking.
Can Trolley'd arrange accommodation with Wild Ducks Burrawang?
Wild Ducks Burrawang is an accommodation partner for suitable Trolley'd experiences, subject to availability and event fit. Trolley'd does not control their pricing or availability, and bookings are made with the property.
Can Trolley'd cater corporate retreats near Bowral or Kangaroo Valley?
Yes. Trolley'd delivers cocktail classes, native botanical drinks programs and aviation trolley bar service for retreats across the Highlands and the Kangaroo Valley escarpment country below it.
What is a farm-to-glass cocktail experience?
Drinks built around produce sourced close to where they are served, using seasonal fruit, honey, native botanicals and preserved regional ingredients. It is a sourcing decision, not a presentation style.
What makes the Trolley'd Moonacres class regenerative?
Produce grown on the same property, seconds fruit used with purpose, named local producers, hand-foraged inputs, take-home kits that reduce waste, and founder-led delivery. A system you can trace, not a slogan.
Can Trolley'd create non-alcoholic drinks using local produce?
Yes. Trolley'd designs a full non-alcoholic botanical program using local produce, honey and native botanicals, built with the same care as the cocktails.
What makes Trolley'd different from mobile bar hire?
Trolley'd is a premium aviation-themed experiential hospitality company. It designs full cocktail experiences using real aviation assets and traceable, provenance-led drinks, rather than staffing a drinks station.
Can guests do a farm tour before a cocktail class?
Where suitable, a farm tour can be built into the itinerary ahead of a Trolley'd experience, for example a Mussett Holdings tour followed by a farm-to-glass session.
Bring the landscape to the glass
Tell us who is travelling and what the occasion is, and we will route the produce, the stops and the cocktail experience into one plan.
Kangaroo Valley and Lake David sit on Lake Yarrunga, in the escarpment country below the Southern Highlands. They are described here as adjacent retreat country, never as being in the Highlands.
