Have a Dream, Make a Plan, Work the Plan
Early in 2004 I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Not an unusual cancer for a woman of my age. Not unusual surgery. Total thyroidectomy removed my thyroid and any trace of cancer. All good. But it did give my husband and I a nasty shock.

What if things had gone badly and my life was not to be as long as my genetics indicated that it would be? So we set about doing something with our lives that had been a dream of mine for some time. To run a B&B in the country.
I must state, that this was not an unusual dream, again, for a woman of my age (around 50). Working full time, living in a household of teenagers and young adults, in a relative new relationship. All week in the office in the city, all weekend doing housework, gardening, washing ironing etc. etc. etc. But I did have the dream, and it was going to come true.
The Dream
In October 2004, we purchased a parcel of land consisting of 64 hectares on the Avon River in the Shire of York. The first planning application to the Shire of York in May 2005 was for a Bed & Breakfast Residence.

We spent many weekends at the farm, sitting around the outside fire, drinking red wine and dreaming of what our property might look like if we managed to pull it off. We changed our minds about the B&B, and decided that self contained cottages for families would be better. So we made a plan. I even wrote up our very first business plan.
The Plan
Later, in March of 2006 an Outline Development Plan was lodged with the Shire of York broadly describing a complex of 6 cottages, a bunk house and a Bed and Breakfast room within the farmhouse and a function centre. At this stage the only building on the property was a big green shed we used for rudimentary accommodation on weekends. The Residence was completed in July 2007 and in December of that year. The Red Room (our one and only B&B room) was opened for guests.

During 2008 plans were developed to build the first 2 cottages. We had designed (dreamed, then planned) the farm stay to have each cottage with a different theme. We also planned to build a stand alone solar power system to generate electricity for the cottages.
The Work
The cottages were built by Ross Squire Homes with the outside theme work, internal decorating and furnishing done by ourselves. “Aussie Bush Cabin” had its first guests in late April 2009 and “Valencia Villa” in early May 2009.

This was followed by “The Lodge” which could comfortably accommodate 8 people and was completely wheel chair accessible. It quickly became a very popular unit for larger family groups. The first guests stayed in late May 2010. In Easter 2011, “Bali Hai” Bungalow had its first guests.
As the business grew, a need for a meeting room was identified so we extended and rebuilt the end of the original shed which we called “Kirribilli”. Between “Kirribilli” and “The Lodge” a large common room was built as a meeting room for large family groups, in-house conference room, or for craft groups. The year 2013 saw the addition of two small 1 bedroom units: “Rose Cottage”, and “The Orchard Chalet”.
By this time Lavendale Farm had a children’s playground and an activity room. The animals were growing in number and variety and the property was developing into a profitable business. Both my husband and I were now working full time on the business and it was supporting us and its ever increasing mortgage.
The Reward
By this time my dream was well and truly happening. One thing remained. A Function Room. We had been approached by tour groups wanting meals and could not provide them from our own home kitchen. So we designed “The Farmhouse Complex” which opened in Easter of 2015 and saw our first wedding in this new facility in May of that year.

It has happened as demand and money (the bank) have allowed. But it has happened. It did not happen randomly, it happened pretty much according to the original business plan written back in 2005. It is however, a little bit too much sometimes and we wonder why we do it. But, every family who stays with us learns something. Every family who stays with us builds a memory which for some, will last a life time. We are driven by what we give to our guests, not by what they pay us.
Not all the development is as our original plan stated, but the concept certainly is. We had the dream. We made a plan. We worked the plan.

