Carol in Oz - Southern Highlands

To break up the drive from the Blue Mountains we had a stopover in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales.  It's a beautiful area and we would love to live there.  Shame everyone else thinks so too and that pushes the property prices right up.  We did a little drive around the towns in the area, having a look in some of the shops along the way.  We had lunch at the Exeter general store which is across the road from the cottage Mick and I stayed in last time we were here.  That cottage is now an art gallery.

Our check in time at the cottage we stayed in at Berrima was 2pm and we arrived not long after that.  We were exploring the stunning cottage gardens when the owner appeared at the garden gate.  He was a chatty fellow and happily showed us around the rest of the property which includes an old slab hut also rented out as holiday accomodation.  By the time we eventually headed off to look at the shops it was nearly 4pm and some of them were closing!  I missed out on the patchwork shop.

The little cottage is adorable. It is a quintessential original cottage complete with uneven wooden floors, gaps and draughts everywhere, creaky doors, an odd layout and crammed with antiques and collectibles.  When I spoke to Mick last night I said to him that it is the exact thing that we used to dream of having.  I can't now imagine living permanently with the inconveniences of a cottage kept so much to its origins. 

I hadn't slept so well the last few nights, having woken in the wee hours and been unable to get back to sleep.  Last night I slept like a log and woke refreshed at 6am to the chorus of Carol on the other side of the wall.

It was only a short stay but in idyllic surrounds it was well worth the stop.