Berrima Book Barn, Bendooley Estate

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Nestled in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales in the small country town of Berrima, is the Bendooley Estate, home to the beautiful and wondrous Berkelouw Book Barn. The Berkelouw Book Barn is part of a series of bookstores run by the Berkelouw family , which started in Amsterdam in 1812 and came to Australia after the Second World War. Berkelouw Book Barn opened in 1977 in Berrima.

Berkelouw Books is home to over two million items – new, used, rare, second-hand, and antiquarian across their stores and online. The Book Barn in Berrima has two sides – one of the new books and the other has the antiquarian, second-hand and used books, with a café in the middle, so you can have a meal surrounded by books. The high ceilings mean that the shelves are almost as high as the store, crammed with treasures. The newer books section is easy to navigate – but you can get lost for hours in the second-hand section, and I almost did.



When I visited in September, I was unsure of what I was looking for but knew I wanted to look at the children’s books – a smaller section of shelving but filled with treasures such as Enid Blyton and many older books. I had hoped to find some copies of a now-hard-to-get Emily Rodda series there – I came away with a much better treasure. A 1979 copy of A Mother’s Offering to Her Children – the first children’s book published in Australia! I could have spent hours and lots of money there – and that’s just the bookstore. The café attached to the bookstore offered a wonderful range of things to eat, like pizza and chips.

The restaurant is casual and fun, with decent food and enough places to seat quite a few guests. They advise checking ahead of time when booking (we walked in, and it was fine) to see if they have a wedding if you’re making plans ahead of time. We were lucky on the day we went that it was open to the public, as it is most days, and people were eating and buying books. The outside patio looks out onto the vineyards, and the entire estate blends well together, ensuring that everything fits and works coherently.



The staff were amazing – the bookstore staff are so friendly, and it is a place that I would love to go back to again and see what I can find and spend a bit more time exploring. That’s the one thing I would advise – make sure you have plenty of time to explore Berkelouw and Bendooley, which is also home to a winery and hosts events like weddings – yes, you can get married amongst the books!



Berrima is a lovely town in the Southern Highlands, and the Book Barn is one of those places that needs to be experienced – I don’t think I have anything quite like it locally, but there is a Berkelouw in Hornsby that has second-hand books as well – which is fantastic. I definitely recommend visiting this when you go to Berrima and the Southern Highlands – it is one of those must-see places – think of all the literary gems you could find!

Of all the bookshops I have ever visited, this is one of my favourites because it has something unique about it that is inviting and inspiring – a place made for lovers of literature and books, and I’m sure if tasting wine at the adjoining winery isn’t your thing, this is an exquisite place to go and be enveloped in.

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