Call it “The COVID Effect”; the phenomenon whereby previously committed city dwellers — battened down under long-term pandemic restrictions — suddenly started looking to idyllic country retreats to either take a holiday or make a move more permanent.

Whatever the name, it has certainly benefitted tiny bush communities like Neville, located 20km south of Blayney and now enjoying a renaissance of sorts, lifelong resident, Kevin Radburn recently told 'Orange City Life'.

Good signs for the local economy includes the reopened and refurbished Neville Hotel, booming house prices, and the return of commercial retail business to the tiny hamlet, with things certainly looking up for the close-knit township.

Long-time owner of the railway-themed eclectic accommodation site, Neville Siding, Kevin knows better than most how well the community is holding up during these tough times.

“We’re going alright to be honest; it’s a good little town and, though we don’t have the historic buildings of villages like Carcoar and Millthorpe, we’ve now got a nursery/coffee shop, Rustic Nature, that is bringing in plenty of people,” Kevin said.

“The school is also back up to about a dozen kids or so, and anything that goes on the market at Neville in the way of houses isn’t there long, it sells right away,” he added.

Taking over the Siding more than a decade ago from its original creators, Ted and Betty Wilson, accommodation includes no less than three old train carriages, a restored old goods shed, known aptly as The Goods Shed, and the relocated and restored Mandurama Railway Station.

Proudly listing its current population as exactly 100, Neville began life as a 19th-century farming community known as 'Number One Swamp', and 'Mount Macquarie', and was settled in the convict era of the 1840s as a coach stop on the Old Lachlan Road between Rockley and Cowra.

Primarily an agricultural and grazing district, it grew prosperous in the late 19th century due to nearby gold and copper mining at Blayney and Carcoar.

The village retains its historic character with the original 1858 schoolhouse still used and “The Neville” hotel, a historic colonial coaching inn originally named the Number One Hotel in 1874.

Well-known owners included the prominent Waterhouse racing family, infamous for their involvement in the 1984 Fine Cotton race-fixing scandal.

For Kevin, success of the Muster specifically and the local tourism boom in general, is down to people wanting to regain genuine, old-style experiences in a world where it can be hard to tell the real from the artificial.

With his late mother a direct descendant of local outlaw John Vane, who rode with such legendary bushrangers as Johnny Gilbert and Ben Hall, he said that technology has made these isolated communities only a phone call away from the world.

“These little villages are again becoming popular, people just like to get away from the city.

“But they can still be in touch if they need to, reception is way better since they put in a Telstra and NBN tower,” Kevin said.

His own business is proof, with devotees of genuine 19th century craft skills making up many of his guest list.

“A lot are ladies' groups that come here for quilting, scrapbooking, knitting, and spinning, we’re now often booked six months ahead.” Kevin said.

“We’ve got about four weekends from now until December that’s not booked out, people ring up and we say, ‘Do you want to come during the week?’,” he concluded.