And all but a month after, we are asking each other how that happened…
“I really feel like seeing some rolling countryside.” said Anna. It is her way of telling me the next South Coast holiday was being planned. And, I think, that’s how it started.
Since I was too young to remember, my family has taken most summer holidays in a little town called Bendalong. So when I met my wife, I was always going to introduce her to the very special South Coast. Since we met, we have spent dozens of holidays there, before we married as a couple, as newlyweds, with our children, and with friends and extended family.
We are always on the lookout for a special place to stay, where every member of the family can do their own thing. Our kids are very different. An explorer (with dog), a bike rider and a horse rider. Anna and I, on the other hand, can’t get enough of beach walks. But this time around we were surprised at the lack of available accommodation and prices seemed to be much higher than we remembered.
Then I got the call from Anna. “I’ve been having a look online at properties around Berry and found a few properties we could afford.” Expecting to hear rental rates, instead, I got the rundown on a property that ticked all the boxes, and it was for sale. She took me through some rough figures and the only thing I could say was “You want to buy a holiday house?”
It took me a few days to catch up to Anna, but she had done the homework and this place did indeed tick all the boxes. Acres of bush to explore with a big dam to fish, mountain bike tracks on the property and across the Berry area, and a beach down the road. Oh, and did I mention the stables and full sized dressage arena?
The previous owners had lived in the big beautiful farm house and had rented out the two cottages for about 15 years. Our plan is to renovate them and rent all three either separately or together for groups of up to 20. The property is in need of some love (and elbow grease) but the plan that Anna put together was like a military masterpiece.
A few weeks later and we were well into the buying process, planning for renovations and scheduling our first guests for Christmas in July. And here we are, three weeks after settlement and on track.
Pictures of the refurbished house will be up on the web site in July. We hope you will enjoy it as much as we already do.
May 2015