Plans have been lodged for a $30-million holiday accommodation in the Hunter Valley, inspired by a famous luxury Argentinian vineyard resort.
Documents show the new facility will be located on 40 hectares off De Beyers Road in Pokolbin, and will feature 118 self-contained rooms, along with a cafe, wine bar and function centre.
The Federation of Community, Sporting and Workers Clubs - a not-for-profit organisation owned by a collective of NSW registered community, sporting and workers clubs - submitted the development application to Cessnock council.
The organisation, which trades as Club Holiday Resorts, owns three self-contained holiday resorts along the NSW coast at Fingal Bay, Sussex Inlet and Urunga.
Clubs Holiday Resorts chief executive Ken Conway said the resort - which will have 8 hectares of productive vineyard on it - had been four years in the making.
"We had our strategic planning meeting in 2020 to decide where to build the fourth resort, the general consensus was that we didn't want to have another coastal resort," Mr Conway said.
"We made inquiries with NSW Tourism to find the most popular holiday destinations that weren't on the coast. Outside of Sydney, they said the Hunter Valley, so we started looking for a suitable parcel of land."
The resort will have a maximum capacity of 236 people, spread across 15 tourist accommodation buildings, which will be located on a low ridge and built on piers to take advantage of views of the surrounding area.
The resort also features a function centre, large enough to cater for 100 people, a games pavilion and a wellness centre.
"The inspiration for the design is a vineyard in Argentina called The Vines, it's one of the leading vineyard resorts in the world," Mr Conway said.
"We wanted a high-quality resort, something that takes advantage of the views of the Broken Back escapement at Cessnock."
The accommodation will be built in pods of eight to 10 units, which will most likely be prefabricated off site and moved on site.
"We've taken a lot of care with the environment, in the sense that the method of building and the type of units are designed to have as little impact on the creek's water flow and the surrounding environment as possible," Mr Conway said.
Only 9.5 hectares of the site - or less than a quarter - will be built upon, with much of the rest destined for re-vegetation.
There are a couple of names in the mix, Mr Conway was leaning towards "Pokolbin Creek Vineyard Retreat".
"We want something that reflects the extremely relaxing environment, somewhere you can have a quiet, peaceful time viewing the countryside and visiting the vineyards," he said.
Although Clubs Holiday Resorts will partner with local catering companies for functions, there are no plans for a restaurant at the moment.
"We were told that the last thing the vineyard region needs is another restaurant up here, because they already struggle to get people to restaurants during the week," Mr Conway said.
"We're hoping we can help out with that by bringing people here midweek. We want to do something called 'Ocean to Vineyard', where you spend the weekend at our Fingal Bay resort then come here during the week."
A traffic analysis estimates it will create an additional 340 daily trips on De Beyers Road but only 14 additional movements during peak hours, "which is considered to be insignificant considering the capacity of the adjacent roads".
Clubs Holiday Resorts expects the resort to open around mid-2027, but the timeline will depend upon how long the approval process takes. The development will employ up to 20 staff once operational.
