Summary
‘Granma’s house’? Where did that one come from? We stayed in Lauren’s place in Nov21 and it brought back memories of times past in other places. It was a small, quiet, period cottage in the distant suburbs with a garden that had been left behind; the interesting decorations, artifacts, ornaments and more; the bookcase full of travel books of places once visited; that sense of a place being lived in – a place much loved. Sure, much of this is personal and it reflects images and, perhaps, the experience of those making judgement of this kind, but it was a delightful place in which to spend a long weekend.
Friendly neighbours
The friendliness of the place came across with the attention to detail, and when talking with both Lauren the host and Prue her/your neighbour for the period that you may stay there. We spoke to Lauren by phone. Prue lives around the back of the property; she’s the reason you park your car in front of the place, leaving the main driveway open for Prue to access her car port. Prue came round and introduced herself after we had arrived, offering any support, etc. that may be required and generally prepared to backstop our stay – with an open and friendly smile. Fortunately, nothing unusual happened (and, for example, we never did lock ourselves out of the house).
Gaining access to the cottage
We’d contacted Lauren before travelling to Rosebud the first day given that we had not received the ‘how to gain access to the place’ information from Messrs Airbnb. We called Lauren, who was at the cottage when we spoke to her preparing the place for the w/e. She quickly covered the information required – access to property and WiFi - and followed up with an email. Further, she offered to wait for us, show us the place, etc. – we were only 40 minutes away – but, in the event we were slower to get on the road than expected, and never did meet our host.
Main features
What we did, however, was to enjoy Lauren’s cottage, the cleanliness and practicality of the place, the convenience of a kitchen, bathroom and small outside veranda and, of course, the main living room and main bedroom. The weather outside that w/e was cold with day temperatures in the mid-teens degC; the cottage has a large mobile heater on wheels that can easily be trailed between the two main rooms. The bed was both comfortable and warm, and w/o recourse to the additional covers stacked in the bedroom cupboard. That said, we’d travelled with a personal duvet and a couple of pillows – from experience.
The kitchen worked well – main/small appliances, power, lights, hot water, etc. Lauren had left a selection of basic foods/condiments available for use by guests. The main shopping centre – restaurants, convenience stores, petrol/diesel station, services, etc. on the Nepean Highway - was little more than two minutes away by car, with a Coles supermarket even closer (but in the opposite direction).
It was much the same with the bathroom – the toilet, basin and bath/shower worked well. You need to step up and over into the conventional bathtub to access the shower. Plentiful bathroom soaps, shampoo, etc. were available.
WiFi/Internet worked well. So did the small wall-mounted television with the large and convenient settee facing it. Local stations.
Downsides
Nothing immediately comes to mind apart from the issue, already mentioned, of access to property and WiFi/Internet services. A user-guide-file to the property/equipment/surroundings might have been of value, particularly for first timers.
Quirkiness
This is a sense of being unusual, unconventional and/or eccentric; it’s a quality to be appreciated, but it also delights because it can be a little strange or peculiar. We enjoyed the images of ‘La Casa della Nonna’ in which we lived for the w/e, and which remain from the handful of photos; the experienced furniture – good condition, functional, unusual; the ornaments that covered surfaces and were hanging on walls, drawers full of jewellery, the bookcase full of Lonely Planet travel books (and others that were more profound – international development, realistic aboriginal history, etc.), the vintage cutlery that we used, the tortoise* in the garden and others. Oh, and not forgetting those original vintage window catches … gorgeous.
There was even a tree lying across the front garden that may have been blown down as a result of recent high winds that had swept the peninsula and the city suburbs further north. Trees had fallen all over the place with many having blocked key rural roads thereabouts. You could see where they had been cleared.
Peter Steele
29Nov21
*For the aficionados, Australia has no native land tortoises, and this one definitely did not have aquatic feet.