Understated luxury ... Homestead Estate near Myrtleford.
Kay O'Sullivan finds simple pleasures and attention to detail at a bed and breakfast with style.
I'm not a fan of bed and breakfasts. It was a journey through the English countryside in the 1980s that did me in. Too many ornaments,too much potpourri (any potpourri is too much),fluffy toilet covers and big fry-ups served by nauseatingly genial hosts keen to know about our plans for the day.
But I've changed my mind after a stay at the Homestead Estate at Rosewhite in the Happy Valley. With a name like that it had to be worth a punt,or at least one night.
Happy Valley is 10 kilometres from Myrtleford and we stopped off overnight on the way home from the snowfields.
First impressions are promising. Slowed down by bad weather,we are 90 minutes late. Hosts Noela Dawes and Micheal Freudenstein greet us in the driveway,grab our bags and shepherd us into a sitting room.
I am delirious with delight at what we find. Toasty fire,soothing music and a brimming plate of warm goat's cheese/flaky pastries,dukkha,peppery extra virgin oil and bread worthy of St Kilda's master baker D. Chirico. Plus,a big,big glass of sangiovese. All produced on the 12 hectares that surround Homestead Estate.
Noela and Micheal had presumed correctly that - being so late,the weather being so awful,the roads so unfamiliar - the driver might be in need of reviving. Too right.
Escapees from Sydney,Noela and Micheal have had the property for a decade and have done an extensive but sympathetic renovation on the 1869 homestead. They have also planted grapes and olives and there's a pool in the gardens.
The sitting room has leather chesterfields,a marvellous Chinoise cabinet and the fire is of the flick-on flick-off kind - full marks for environmental concern.