A Bathurst mansion stay that reveals a side of the city you don't expect

Bathurst, home of the Mount Panorama Circuit, is catnip for motorsports fans, many of whom converge on the Central West NSW city in their own vehicles on road trips described as a rite of passage for said fans. We've arrived after a road trip ourselves, over the Blue Mountains from Sydney, later than scheduled on a Friday night. Bishop's Court Estate Boutique Hotel owner Christine Le Fevre greets us in the driveway in her chef whites. Her grand red-brick Italianate villa was built about 1870 as the residence of Bathurst's first Anglican bishop, and has operated as a hotel since the mid-noughties after a comprehensive restoration by the powerhouse Le Fevre.

Bishop's Court sits atop a hill on the edge of Bathurst's CBD. It was originally on 22 hectares that reached the base of Mount Panorama, but these days is set on about an acre of serene parkland gardens which include original 1870s trees and, much more latterly, a series of mirrors that supersize the gardens while hiding the neighbours. The rolling grounds of historic St Stanislaus' College are half-a-block away.

Mount Panorama Circuit, whose biggest race is October's Bathurst 1000, gives the city's reputation a certain revhead-y edge - which initially gave then-Sydneysider Le Fevre pause when it came to buying Bishop's Court. But as she soon twigged - and a visitor will, too - Bathurst is a many-layered place. Home to 45,000 people, it's Australia's oldest inland white settlement so its heritage is a key attraction - including Bishop's Court, a gracious salute to the high Victorian era. The interiors are maximalist but elegant, bursting with old and new furnishings, artworks, ornaments and collectables that nod to the past while not being trapped in it.

There are six suites, each individually decorated, furnished and named - Serenity, Harmony and Divinity among them. Not all have ensuites but you will have your own private bathroom - ours is just up the hallway. We're in the upstairs Bishop's Room which, as the original bishop Samuel Marsden's private room, has quite the pedigree. It opens on to a deep, beautifully furnished veranda aptly named the Treetop Terrace. It overlooks the gardens and I would love to spend an afternoon here with a book.

Seeing as we're road-tripping in the "spiritual home" of Australian motor racing, a visit to the National Motor Racing Museum would be appropriate. It's next door to the Mount Panorama Circuit which anyone can motor around, and we do, for bucket-list thrills at 60kmh.

You'll drive a long way to find hospitality as warm and lively as Christine Le Fevre's.

The writer was a guest of the hotel and Bathurst Regional Council