For the past three decades Goats Hill, affectionately known as Picnic Hill, has been a place of peace for the Barton family and the hundreds of other people they've shared the special spot with.

A hard-to-get-to area overlooking Blowering Dam near Talbingo, the now popular picnic and camping area was first identified by Mr Barton through binoculars from Snubba Ridge.

The adventurer and four-wheel-drive enthusiast had lived in Tumut at the time and was site searching with his son Toby Barton and friend Robert Lawson when they found Goats Hill.

It took several weekends of slashing through thick blackberry and tea tree scrub to create a secret pathway to the site.

Once there, the trio set about clearing saplings, rocks and scrubby bushes, revealing an uneven surface with rocks protruding and a view fit to grace any calendar.

For four years the picnic area was a haven they kept close to their chests, rejoicing in the breathtaking site in which they had to themselves.

"No one knew I built it but when the NSW State Forests found out they have been supportive ever since, in fact they supply the graze on chemical to keep the blackberries down and I spray that every year - I had to get a licence to do so," he said.

Eventually Mr Barton would install a barbecue and bench at the site, and he and his family were there every chance they got.

"It just looks straight down Blowering Dam, there's no site like it in the world," he said.

"We used to take people on mystery four-wheel-drive trips and we used to go there for lunch and dinner.

"We've taken hundreds and hundreds of people there over the years.

"I took a police inspector there once and another guy I took there was a guy who had bowel cancer, he had a bad prognosis and we had a silver service lunch for him, he's still alive today and is cancer-free.

"We call it our peaceful place of nature and we've shared it with so many people.

"They come away fresh, a lot of their worries would feel swept away simply because of how special the place was."

In 2022, Mr and Mrs Barton, now both in their 70s, decided to move to Wagga to be closer to medical facilities, and during Mr Barton's most recent visit back to Goat Hill he was left heartbroken.

The area had been closed off following the bushfires, with some of the infrastructure and surrounding trees burnt.

Mr Barton had been in the process of trying to rebuild the site. On April 3, he visited the area to mow the grass but found the table and barbecue were in ruins.

After reporting the vandalism to police, Mr and Mrs Barton posted a $1000 reward for information

Although they got the answers they had been looking for, the damage was already done.

"I'm not going to do rebuild it anymore, I've lost the incentive to do it after it was vandalised," Mr Barton said.

"We aren't going to build it again, there's been lots and lots of offers to rebuild it but we're just going to leave it as a viewing place.

"We're in an area where people just don't respect other people's property like they used to so there's no point in building it again and I'm comfortable with that.

"We've had it for 33 years which is a pretty long time to have a site on public land that we didn't own and didn't have the right to build on in the first place."

While at peace with accepting what he can't change, it is still a bittersweet goodbye as the site had been a place where the family spent many affairs including their daughter's engagement party.

Mr Barton said it brings him peace knowing Goats Hill has such a special place in many people's hearts.

"There are many examples of people suffering distress, hard times, some overcoming bereavement and others that by visiting Picnic Hill came away feeling exhilarated from the experience," Mr Barton said.

"I myself used the site to recharge my batteries, depleted through the rigours of running a large car business.

Police were contacted for comment.