Hilltop Cottage

Hi folks...
Imagine that bag of weirdly shaped bananas at the supermarket. Just as tasty as regular bananas but a bit... weird.
Welcome to hilltop cottage!

Though she features:

• Spacious rooms with comfortable beds,
• Unlimited NBN Wifi,
• Fans & portable aircon in the main bedroom and lounge. Gas heating.
• A basic new bathroom (2022) and new flooring throughout (2021), she is oddly laid out and not for everyone. First impression is a bit rough as the old verandah needs replacing, but indoors is a different story.
The space...
The cottage was built in about 1880. A lot has happened to her in that time.
She is not like a modern home. She creaks a little with age. She has a few oddities and a few gaps.

In renovating her, I found four different types of floorboards and 1950's magazines under the mid century era Linoleum. Hardly a straight line in the place...

The white tin roof is high, the verandah wide and the insulation thick, so she is really good at keeping an even temperature. The aircon unit is really only needed a few days a year and does a decent job of taking the edge off those real scorchers. Fans make sleeping and spending evenings inside generally comfortable but this is NOT a hotel. It's not going to be a perfect temperature all the time so if this is what you prefer you need to consider other options.

As was typical of the times, the original four room cottage was connected to the outdoor 'dunny' and laundry via a breezeway. There were sloping concrete pathways and it was open to the street. The original tiny bathroom still has 1800s exterior walls made from split timber planks, 'upgraded' in the 1960s. I added a new toilet there so it's not as far to the original.
I converted the original laundry to a relatively modern bathroom. It's not ALL THAT, but it's pretty good. That breezeway almost feels indoors now. I closed it off to the street and added oak flooring, a back door and decent lighting. It IS still effectively outdoors though. Like I said, it's quirky...
The kitchen is modern with the oddity of the sink being in an adjacent space - a scullery, like a posh house :)

So. Try to think of the experience as something from another era. Though there are mod cons, amazingly comfy beds and some stylish details, it's not too hard to imagine what it would have been like 130 years ago. I hope that resonates with my guests.
Enjoy.

Guest access
The rear of the property isn't really part of the listing.
The little front yard is cute and the front deck is a nice spot to enjoy a coffee in the morning or a beer in the afternoon.
Other things to note

ACCESSIBILITY details:
As much as possible I've kept everything on the one level, though there is a small step up from kitchen to scullery and down into the second toilet. Not ideal for a walker frame.

Please consider the backyard as if it were a neighbouring property. It doesn't in any way affect the cottage but to be clear, it is not included in the listing, so no need to venture out the back door.

License number
PID-STRA-11101-1

Hilltop Cottage offers its guests a hot tub. The front desk is open around the clock.

This Newcastle cottage is smoke free.