It all begins with an idea. In 2019 our family bought a renovator’s delight!

My parents wanted to invest in a holiday house in Warrnambool so they could visit us more and enjoy more of their retirement in this lovely seaside town.

After a lot of inspections of little units that didn’t really tickle their fancy, my husband James saw what is now Warrnambool Retreat in the paper and thought let’s have a look.

It wasn’t a small holiday unit but a gorgeous old building with 3 dwellings that needed a lot of love… and I mean A LOT of love.

‘Not sure it’s for them’ were James words. Hmmm so very wrong!

We all saw its potential and amazing heritage features and knew it was something special.
So in 2019 we bought it together. Then started a long and very intense renovation taking up the whole of 2020.

It was an emotional long year - but all totally worth it. Henna & Merri are an amazing part of our family and we love sharing them with our guests and bringing an iconic house on an iconic street back to life was just the icing on the cake. The feedback from locals even today blows our minds.

Opening our doors to our first guests in 2021 (apart from some lockdowns) we haven’t looked back.

Image: My amazing family that none of this could have happened without. (2019)