Looking for a gorgeous place to stay for a weekend in the Hunter with a group of friends? Don’t go here.
Elysium Cottage in Broke in the Hunter Valley doesn’t have many photos on the web for a reason. To say the place is rustic would be putting a good spin on it. To say that it’s good for large groups really is a bit of a lie. The house has potential if only it were a little cleaner, maybe renovated and not full of someone else’s belongings, presumably the caretaker’s belongings who probably lives there when it’s not being rented out to unsuspecting people who leave bookings to the last minute.
When you’re flicking through a visitor’s book at accommodation and you find some pages glued together, you know you’re not the only one who has been duped. And that’s the thing, we’ve all stayed in grotty and rough places before, but when one pays a lot of money for a weekend away and is told it’s in a vineyard with a pool, spa, enough room to sleep 10 and the vineyard chef will cook you dinner one evening, certain expections are created. This doesn’t live up to any of them.
Anyway, with a big group of friends – one soon to be married – and lots of good wine and food we made the best of the time we had and it certainly was a memorable weekend.
