Hmmmm... it seems like I am staying quite a few times recently in guesthouses instead of hotels! Well, part of that is own choice... when I just need a cheap overnight stay.... but in this particular case, it was for a festival in a small town and the accommodation situation in this case gets pretty dire. And I guess I have a reputation of not complaining!
... and so, I found myself in this large ex-Catholic church house. A large guesthouse, that I suspect housed the participants of the Catholic church next door... perhaps orphans, clergy/nuns, or otherwise?
It is a pretty impressive and stately old building, and the insides are pretty old fashioned... but quite tasteful!
... the downsides are the fact that you will have shared bathroom facilities... both toilets and showers, in a unisex situation. Not really a problem in the end, it is sort of what I'm used to from the Netherlands in the swimming facilities anyway. But I know that many of my Australian colleagues were horrified...
I had one of the downstairs rooms... which I was quite thankful for, the high ceilings and large verandah shading meant that this room stayed really nice and cool in the hot pre-summer days whilst I was staying here. Upstairs, it was quite toasty!
Sigh... if only my kids joined me, they would have been over the moon to be able to sleep in a bunk bed again!
The room was tastefully furnished, like the main shared areas... but I'm afraid it was sort of wasted on me as I tend to just live out of a suitcase... and I don't really sit around on the chairs... preferring to sit on the bed instead!
... and you can see a similar sort of styling in the common areas.
There were also shared kitchen and eating areas on the inside...
... and ample space on the outside deck as well. However, the outside was a touch too warm to sit around in comfortably. I did stay out there for a bit reading a book... but even under the shade, I eventually retreated to the coolness of my own room!
Now, Canowindra is quite difficult to get to with public transport... well, I would almost say that it is impossible... but space isn't really an issue in country towns like this. So, there are is a large parking area out the back of the guesthouse... to put your very essential car, that you will need to do the tour of the local wineries!