We really wanted to love The Butcher's House, but unfortunately our stay just wasn't perfect. I want to preface that we stayed in three other homes in Tassie just like this one - one priced cheaper and the others comparably, all in historic homes with special attention paid to honouring the homes history re. decor and styling etc.. So I'm writing my review with that in mind. We were travelling in July, so the height of winter (lowest we got to was -3). Bothwell was supposed to be our last stop and each home before it the host had lit the fire in advance of our arrival, which until the Butcher's house, we didn't realise was such a big deal to the home's first impression.
When we arrived at around 3/4pm, we opened the door to a VERY cold home, and with the small windows letting in only a tiny amount of light, the two other people travelling with me immediately exclaimed that they felt the house was haunted. They then refused to stay there and we had to get another airbnb in town for the night and subsequently cut our two night stay down to one, going back to another of the homes we stayed in days prior for our last night.
They stayed at the other house and I stayed at the Butcher's house - I have a good sense about these things and truly, the house isn't haunted, it just gave a bad first impression! My travelling companions agreed with me on this later on but I do understand why they jumped to that conclusion. We'd encourage the host to have the cleaners set the fire or at the very least have the electric heaters going at this time of year. We paid a lot of money for this stay - I think it should be justified in the cost of the stay to have them (or the fire) going.
Overnight, I did conclude the house is freezing, made worse that the fire place is very hard to use, even for a seasoned pro. I could not get it to stay alight so had to rely on the electric heaters, of which there are three (portable, two larger and one small in the bathroom, along with overhead bathroom warming lights). However, they aren't enough to heat the whole place (especially the kitchen) so I had a bath (albeit, lovely, in the claw foot tub - more on this soon) and jumped into bed, closing the door to keep the heat in the room.
Also, unfortunately it isn't specified on the listing that one of the single beds is a child-size single mattress - it's smaller than normal and doesn't quite fit on the single base. This would be fine for a child, but as three single adults who wanted their own bed, this bed would not have worked. On that though, I wouldn't bring younger children here as there are too many risks in breaking the antiques.
I'll finish with the great stuff and hope that my review isn't taken badly. I truly think if the above was different it would be a 5 star stay and would return myself. If you're a couple, looking for a romantic getaway, this place is perfect - in the warmer months! Or if you were single and wanting to rest and spend some time in solitude. Bothwell is not quite the right place if you're looking to explore as it's far from a lot of the sights, however its perfect for if you want to cook and hole up inside for a weekend.
The decor is beautiful and you can truly see how much the owner has poured into and over honouring the homes history. I loved the books laying around and the interesting objects to admire. It was a lovely ode to the past and very authentic. The bedding in the main bedroom was lovely, super cosy and felt very luxe. The bathroom and its amenities were absolutely stunning - I specifically loved the large wooden board over the amazing clawfoot bath. It made things so much easier, especially to have a tea and read of my book while I soaked in the (provided) epsom salts. Another thing I loved (and something that confirmed the place wasn't haunted!) were the bunnies in the adjoining yard and the loud song of birds outside. It was just lovely!