Clarendon Forest Retreat has been the Manning Valley’s quiet achiever for decades: mudbrick cottages and timber spa cabins scattered through a big private forest property at Possum Brush, each hidden from the next. A 4.9 rating across 143 Google reviews suggests the formula has not aged.
★ 4.9 · 143 Google reviews (correct at the time of writing, July 2026)
Property photo via Google Maps
The cabins
Every cabin gets privacy and most get a spa — some indoors behind glass looking into the trees. Mudbrick walls, timber ceilings and verandahs facing paddocks or forest; kangaroos handle the lawns and mornings arrive with king parrots.
Around the Manning
The white horseshoe of Ellenborough Falls — one of the longest single-drop falls in the southern hemisphere — is an hour inland, and the beaches around Old Bar and Wallabi Point about 25 minutes east.
Header image shows the surrounding Byron Bay region — see the property’s website for accommodation photos. Rates, availability and inclusions are set by the property.
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