Selling New England - where would you advise people to go

In a comment on Selling New England, Keith extolled the virtues of Armidale.

This got me thinking.

You have visitors coming to stay with you. You might be in Maitland, Armidale, Glen Innes, wherever you live. Your visitors have a car, and a week. They want to do some travelling in Northern NSW, the broader New England.

Your task is to plan their week trip. Where would you suggest they go and why?

Leave ideas in comments, and I will  bring them up in main post or posts.  

A first nomination: Thunderbolts Way

Greg provided a first nomination. He wrote:

When I was in Uralla and Armidale not long ago I travelled from Newcastle via the New England Hwy. I have travelled the road to Scone many times and it is very familiar to me. Not so familiar were the tablelands and towns further north which I visit more infrequently. The tablelands are well worth the visit and Armidale in particular is a charming city.

The real gem for me was travelling back along Thunderbolts Way through the Barrington Tops. This must surely be one of Australia's greatest drives. I don't think that any visit to New England would be complete without travelling this road. It is has the most spectacular scenery imaginable.

Why Thunderbolts Way is not promoted is beyond me. The Barringtons are a special place. I would recommend doing the tour that I did. Start from Newcastle and travel the New England Hwy to Armidale then back via Thunderbolts Way. The further you go the more breathtaking it gets.

Tablelands and especially Armidale people are reluctant to promote Thunderbolts Way too much because they like it private! But Greg is right.

If you go north from Newcastle, you start with all the magnificent country around the tops, as well as the historic towns such as Stroud or Dungog. Lots to see. If you cut up Bucketts Way, then you get onto the beautiful Thunderbolts Way that takes you through the southern portion of the New England Tablelands. but it's more than that.

You can cut east north of Nowendoc and come back to the Hunter via Nundle. Then from Scone back into Buckett's country. The choices are enormous. Or you can go onto Armidale, or continue down Thunderbolts Way via Uralla to inverell. The choices are enormous depending on what you are most interested in!