Turon Gates offers the serenity of the bush and is one of many staycation spots in the region that has suffered the effects of lockdown on business.

We sat down with Turon Gates, proprietor Michael Lunoe who resides on site in the manager's cabin with his wife Alex and said Turon was originally founded by his father in 1974.

"We've been out here for near on 50 years and for a number of years we had a manager in here [the cabin] and then my parents lived here for 20 years and Alex and I have lived here for the last three years," he said.

Turon is situated on 6000 acres of rugged bush and originally started off with just camping accommodation but has since expanded with self-catered cabins and glamping tents.

"We built two cabins and then another two cabins and so on... now we've got four cabins and seven glamping tents and a camping ground that fits 50 cars," Mr Lunoe said.

He said there was something for everyone at Turon with a number of different levels of accommodation to appeal to different demographics situated along crystal clear trout stream and sensational mountain views.

"Obviously campers are campers right? That's a broad demographic from young couples to old people to families," he said.

"We've got a kid and dog friendly glamping tent and new luxury glamping tents which are a couples only thing," he said.

Mr Lunoe said there were a few different styles of cabins including river cabins and mountain cabins.

"The river cabins are more rustic and they're our original ones, they're like a king size bedroom with four beds in the living room. Our mountain cabins are more like modern cottages with two or three bedrooms," he said.

He said the most unique feature enjoyed by staying at Turon Gates was the natural environment.

"We've got a lot of space and we keep the density very low so a lot of the time when people are here they feel like they're the only people in the property," he said.

He said it was a great place to be enjoyed by families and their pets, or young or older couples alike and there was plenty of space.

"For most people it all comes back to nature. This is not the place you come to be entertained, this is a place where your phones generally don't work. Really we're trying to be off grid, not on grid and soo yeah, it's getting back to nature," he said.

On a visit to Turon, people can encounter a range of activities from bushwalks, to horse riding, canoeing, fishing and much more.

"We offer activities but people also bring bicycles and do mountain biking and stuff like that but a lot of people don't do anything as well, some might like to relax, read a book, sit in front of the fire and have a glass of wine and simply enjoy the serenity," he said.

He said he found people became shocked and how much fun their kids have enjoying the simple things in life.

"I guess they're so used to having to entertain their kids and all of a sudden fishing, or throwing rocks in the river or going on a bushwalk, canoeing or for a horse ride is the most fun.

"These are things kids never get to do anymore, so it's amazing to see. We get kids that come to us and say this is the best weekend they've ever had," he said.

He said Turon was affordable and parents didn't have to take their kids to big amusement parks, rather they head into space, time, air and nature.

He said traditionally Turon's customer base had been city people but with COVID lockdowns and locals turning to "their own backyards" he was starting to see an influx of people from the Central West.

"We're getting people from Dubbo and Mudgee and Bathurst and places that we really weren't expecting people to come from, even the Central Coast.

"I think, the changing times have sort of made people more aware of the benefits of being away from others and having space and light and air and bush," he said.

Mr Lunoe said he believed most people don't realise what they've got in their own areas.

"It's a common problem, right, where you don't look in your own backyard because it feels like it's the everyday and then other people are traveling four or five or eight hours to come here and we get people that have heard about us from overseas, and they've made a specific journey," he said.

"People make a huge effort to get here from all over the place."

He said Turon also had a repeat customer base of people who feel like Turon's their own.

"They treat our cabins like their holiday home and make memories here with family. As the years go on it becomes multi-generational and from my standpoint we love the fact that people love Turon as much as we do," he said.

"I grew up here, this is my, my happy place, it's a joy to be able to live out here now and run it and grow it and make my mark and make sure that people have a good time."

He said during COVID it was a difficult time trying to support staff and coming in and out of lockdown, but he was pleased to be back to normality now.

"Turon is generally very busy, it's very popular, it has been for years and lockdown was a rollercoaster ride but we saw our way through it and I think what it did do was open up regional New South Wales to a band of tourism that really never had any interest in traveling in regional areas," he said.

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