Scone is the Upper Hunter town that calls itself the Horse Capital of Australia, and for once the slogan is not empty. Thoroughbred studs, equine events, the Australian Stock Horse Society, and the annual horse festival give the place a sharper identity than most highway towns of its size.
The town centre is practical and country rather than grand, but a spare day can work well here. Start with Hunter Warbirds at the airport, then walk through town to Elizabeth Park, where the Mare and Foal sculpture makes the horse theme plain. If you have a car, the essential detour is Burning Mountain Nature Reserve, north of town.
Scone is not a polished tourist village, and it should not be mistaken for the wine-country heart of the lower Hunter. It is more rural, more horse-mad, and more useful as a base for the Upper Hunter's paddocks, ridges, and national parks. That gives it enough of a place identity to be worth a W66 stop if you are already moving through the region.