"There are garden restaurants, and then there’s Petersham Nurseries. It’s essentially a cafe in the greenhouse of a private garden in Richmond, with Italian food that’s pricey, but always extremely pretty. Get a plate of the saffron gnocchi with mussels and peas and sit in the absolute stunner of a conservatory, which opens on to an actual meadow during summer. As far as escapes go, it feels like you’ve left town because, well, you basically have left town. " - heidi lauth beasley, jake missing, rianne shlebak, sinead cranna