Ever felt like running away? /Margaret River tree change/ by Debbie Noonan, May 25th 2018
Every felt like running away? Well 10 years ago, we sold our home and businesses, packed up our belongings, pushed our golden retriever (Trinity) into the back seat of our car and set off down the highway for our new life in Margaret River.
Hi, I’m Debbie Noonan and along with my husband Pete we are the faces behind Margaret River Guest House and this is our story.
That night heading to our new home and life we travelled behind our belongings and in the distance a storm was brewing. As the light faded and the lightning slashed across the skies Pete turned to me and said “I hope that isn’t a sign”
While this adventure was new to us, the Margaret River Guest House was accustomed to welcoming new and excited owners through its doors, as it began it’s life welcoming guests back in 1967.
Over these 51 years eight families have had the privilege of running this historic guest house. Some have stayed a long time, others found the lifestyle wasn’t for them.
Originally, we saw our property in the classifieds section of the “West Australian” newspaper. It wasn’t being sold but the then owners (5 investors) were looking for new tenants to take over the lease. Now we weren’t actually looking for a sea/tree change. In fact, we had 2 businesses in Perth, numerous staff and we both had other work commitments, so moving 3 hours south wasn’t something we had thought about, but there we were 2 days after seeing the ad in the paper, pulling into the drive of the guest house for a 2 night stay and me turning to Pete saying “this has to be ours”.
Move forward 11 weeks and there we were driving into a storm and new life. Little did we dare believe that 10 years on we would have achieved so much.
Now on that night in April 2008 we arrived at our new home at 9pm, it was stormy, raining and Pete, Trinity and I fell out of our car, ran to the front door and with great excitement opened the door to our new life.
Did I say new life? Hahahaha well what we were welcomed with as we turned on the lights was an indoor water feature. No not one we were expecting, but one we quickly learnt was a regular occurrence when it rained. Not surprising really, the guest house was 80 years old and to be fair hadn’t been renovated since the 1980’s.
Thankfully coming from a 100-year-old property in Perth we understood the upkeep of a property of this age, and yes, we also knew the current owners owned the property with views to demolishing the building, so fixing things wasn’t high on their agenda.
To say our guest house is special isn’t an understatement. We hear it daily from our guests, most don’t know how to explain it. They try, but most will just call it a “feeling”. Others describe it as “atmosphere”. I would tell you when you walk in, the guest house welcomes you, gives you a hug, then makes you feel at home. Whatever it Is, our guests come back over and over again, many travelling from the other side of the world just to revisit our guest house and the Margaret River region.
So where has 10 years gone? Quickly. Thanks to the GFC (global financial crisis) our investors put their plans on hold and we pulled up our sleeves and started to renovate our old girl. 5 years ago the investors decided to sell, and thanks to the help and encouragement from great friends, family and guests 3 years ago we were able to purchase and saved our property from being bulldozed.
Move forward to 2018 and we have achieved a lot and met some of the most amazing people we now call friends. Our guest house has seen many changes over it’s life and with age comes many facelifts. While our journey is continuing and ours and the guest house’s story is still being written we continue to enjoy our life at Margaret River Guest House and look forward to continuing to improve our home and welcoming new guests, and welcoming back return guests.
If you haven’t stayed at the guest house or visited the Margaret River region before, or maybe you are just planning another visit, then there is no better time than now to head on down to one of Australia’s premier wine regions. Your stay at the Margaret River Guest House will not only provide you with a home away from home experience it will also give you an opportunity to experience part of Margaret River’s history.
We would love to welcome you to our home and look forward to making yours a holiday to remember.
Deb & Pete
