Goat Yoga Is Australia's Newest Exercise Trend

Well and truly gone are the days when yoga was all about stripping back to basics and staying silent. Over the past year, we've brought you yoga with Italian feasts and red wine, yoga underwater and yoga with craft beer. Of course, now that spring is here, we present yoga with goats.

This marvellous retreat is happening at Mayfield Garden, a stunning, 160-hectare, landscaped garden just outside of Oberon in New South Wales. Located around a three-hour drive from Sydney, it started as the private domain of the Hawkins family, but is now open to the public 363 days of the year.

Over three days from September 15 to 17, you'll get to stay onsite in the beautiful Mayfield Guesthouse, while engaging in yoga, meditation and mindfulness — often while cuddling baby goats. The experience is meant to add not only a whole bunch of cuteness to your bending and stretching experience, but also the benefits of animal therapy. And, in case you're wondering, this isn't the world premiere of goat yoga: it's quite a thing in the US.

If you're keen, you should probably book a ticket asap, as there's only room for seven sleepers in the guest house. However, you can buy a day ticket and stay close by — and there's no shortage of lovely places to stay around Oberon and Bathurst.