We are an energetic couple with a young family and a love of hospitality, interior design and landscape gardening who have stayed in a number of accommodation venues in many countries and have been inspired by those where we felt we were in a home from home and been motivated by those places that didn’t quite reach the mark.

Our goal is to achieve affordable comfortable uniquely designed accommodation for families, couples or small groups (including pets) who would like a place to stay where they feel at home and have everything that they could need to make their stay enjoyable.

We aim to provide just about everything you need except we can’t fill your wardrobe with clothes or the fridge and pantry with food (although we do have some catering options from our local caterers Peninsula Pantry).

We want to give you as much information about the area as we can and make suggestions as to what to do.

We want to provide you with tastes of the area for you to enjoy.

We took over the business 4 years ago and have made many improvements including completely renovating the Shell Croft Cottage. We have started landscaping work and put the whole property onto main drains (no more septic tank!). We have renovated the kitchen in the Sandpiper and all cottages now have additional heating and air conditioning, new mattresses, beautiful bed linen and hotel quality blankets. We have invested in new furniture and decoration.

We still have a lot of work ahead of us.... Our next project will be to put a lovely decking at St Ives Cottage with an undercover outdoor eating and lounge area including a sun deck. St Ives is also undergoing some major landscaping changes and eventually we will add a dedicated childrens play area.The Shearwater is earmarked for a new spa bathroom and modern kitchen and decked courtyard garden.All this takes time so be patient and keep coming back as we get better and better.

What is new this year...

The Shearwater has had a new state of the art fridge/freezer which includes a filtered water system and ice maker.  We have also replaced the double and single beds in the upstairs bedroom with a King Size Bed that can be turned into 2 King Single beds if required. This means that the Shearwater no longer sleeps 9 guests, it is reduced to 8 plus cots which we feel more appropriate.

The Shell Croft has a new Plasma TV to be installed (lots of comments that the current TV is too small), this small TV and DVD Player will then be transferred to the bedroom in the Sandpiper Cottage to add to the facilities there.

The Sandpiper Cottage will have the bunk beds removed and a single bed put in its place.  This brings the cottage down to sleep 3 plus a cot, we feel this much more appropriate to the size of the property and also base it on feedback from our guests.

Wardrobe space is at a premium in the cottages (we hate great big boxes of wardrobes) but we do understand that you need to hang up some clothes so we are installing open wardrobe space in both the Shell Croft and St Ives Cottage.

Plans are underway for the decking at St Ives Cottage which will improve the garden area and allow for an undercover eating area and sun deck.

Watch this space...

Our Gardens..

You may see Jon and Dan around the cottages at various times during your stay, they may even ask you if they can attend to something in the cottage that you are staying in, they are our dedicated gardening staff who are slowly taking the gardens back to their indigenous roots. We want you to experience all of the Mornington Peninsula and that includes all the flora and hopefully some of the fauna. Our indigenous plantings will encourage insect and bird life back to the garden as well as some reptiles such as the blue tongued lizard.We did have a resident lizard at 12 Blakiston Grove for a long time but he seems to have disappeared, but we do have one at Ocean Blue Retreat (24 Sabato Street). Jon and Dan run Internatural Rescue, here is a little about the business…

INTERNATURAL RESCUE

 

Internatural Rescue is a business dedicated to the preservation, rehabilitation and enhancement of indigenous plant species of the Mornington Peninsula.
Their work includes plant rescue*, propagation, planting and promotion of indigenous plants. They also protect sensitive areas by building fences. They use only mulch from local native plants. Plants are grown from seed, cuttings and division from plants of local provenance. Plants bought from other growers are also grown locally from local sources. It is important to grow plants from local plant communities to ensure the integrity of the local species is maintained and hybridisation is minimised. I. R. has worked for the Department of Sustainability and Environment, Parks Victoria, the Mornington Peninsula Shire, National Trust and local ‘Friends’ groups in helping to survey and restore plant communities and encourage local fauna to return to their natural habitat. Workers for I. R. are trained and certified in the use of chainsaws and weedicides. The principles of Internatural Rescue are Jon Greening and Dan Pettigrove. Jon Greening has over 30 years experience in the field, including 16 years as ranger of the Blairgowrie Foreshore Reserve. Jon was part of a team that surveyed and produced management plans for Blairgowrie, Dromana, Merricks, Seaford and Pt Leo Foreshore Reserves. Dan has had over 25 years experience in horticulture and was also ranger of the Whitecliffs to Cameron’s Bight Foreshore Reserve.

Contact:

Jon Greening 0414 445 679

Dan Pettigrove 0410 747 593

*Plant Rescue is carried out on private property where plants are endangered through land clearing and development. Plants are lifted from an area, potted up and transferred to a safer place on private or public land.

 

PLANTS THAT YOU CAN FIND IN OUR GARDENS

Acacia retinodes var. uncifolia - Wirilda (Wattle)

Allocasuarina verticillata - Drooping Sheoke

Austrodanthonia sp. – Wallaby-grass

Banksia integrifolia - Coast Banksia

Clematis microphylla – Small-leaf Clematis

Correa alba - White Correa

Correa reflexa - Green Correa

Dianella brevicaulis – Black-anther Flax-lily

Dianella tasmanica – Tasman Flax-lily

Dichondra repens - Kidney Weed

Dicksonia Antarctica - Soft Tree Fern

Dodonaea viscosa - Hop Bush (Akeake)

Eucalyptus sp.

Ficinia nodosa - Knobby Club Rush

Hibbertia sericea - Guinea Flower

Kennedia prostrata - Running Postman

Leucophyta brownii – Cushion Bush

Leucopogon parviflorus - Coast Beard Heath

Lomandra longifolia – Matrush

Leptospermum laevigatum – Coast Ti-tree

Melaleuca lanceolata - Moonah

Myoporum insulare – Common Boobialla

Pelagonium australe - Austral Stork’s-bill

Pimelea serphyllifolia – Thyme Rice-flower

Pomaderris oraria - Coast Pomaderris

Rhagodia candolleana – Sea-berry Saltbush

Scaevola albida – Coast Fan-flower

Stipa stipoides – Spear-grass

Tetragonia implexicoma - Bower Spinach

Tetragonia tetragonioides – Warrigal Spinach

Viola hederacea - Ivy-leaf Violet