Fitzgeralds on Lyttleton, Castlemaine review: The wedding gift

Most of the town is booked out but Andrew Stephens finds a cosy loft for a big country weekend.

It is one of those weekends: a long one, with numerous events in the district and here we are with a wedding to go to and half the guests seem to have booked up the available rooms at the obvious hotels in town. We can't bunk with the bride and groom so, with a bit of research, we find a small bed and breakfast - with just one room.

Even when you know a town well, you can get lost and Lyttleton Street does sound (a bit) like some of its neighbouring Castlemaine streets — Mostyn, Doveton or Templeton. So after leaving the railway station, we traipse about in the unseasonal heat confused, unable to find the place, wondering how we will get dressed for the wedding, until a kind resident reveals we are in the wrong street. What a relief to eventually climb the front path of Fitzgeralds (on Lyttleton).

We pause to enjoy the front porch of the main house and the shady, beautiful garden which contains an enormous Bunya pine, overlooking beautiful bush beyond. This Victorian cottage, built about 1860 during the gold rush as a simple four-room dwelling (since extended), is where the owners live.

After crunching around the back on the gravel, we discover the studio we are to stay in: a large loft-like structure, reproduction Edwardian style, shaded by vines and with a delightful arbour at the front double-doors, set with metal table and chairs and graced with a self-seeding cottage garden and lots of character. We float in to this cool, spacious retreat.

Teeshia and David Fitzgerald opened the studio as accommodation after buying the property in 2000. They renovated the building, erected by a previous owner, and included a bathroom, toilet and store room. They also put up a barn across the driveway. We can see they've put a lot of thought into the place to endow it with a certain graciousness and to optimise light and nice views.

The studio is airy downstairs, with a cooling brick-layed floor and lots of natural light. In this room there is a simple kitchenette with tea-and-coffee equipment and a sink, plus a small room off it housing a small cooker, bar fridge and microwave. The compact and stylish bathroom and toilet are also off this main room.

While tempted to slump into the comfortable sofa, we climb the metal spiral staircase to get a look at the sleeping quarters. This delightful mezzanine, where there is a queen-sized bed and doors leading on to a small upstairs porch and stairway leading back down to the garden, is pleasant and cosy, with everything you need: a clothes rack, mirror, table, fluffy bathrobes and bedside lamps.

One of the things we like most about the Fitzgeralds's studio is the attention to detail and the quality fittings: Sheridan linen, Country Road crockery and a silver-and-cream colour scheme extending throughout. We also like the pot-belly stove, the stained glass, the foyer and tasteful furnishings. After the wedding later that day, we sleep well in the bed and enjoy, next morning, the exquisite silence of this part of the world, the birdsong and the warming sunshine.

We sample the large range of continental breakfast foods Teeshia and David have left in the fridge: yoghurt, fruit, lots of package cereals, tea and coffee, juice and toast. Nothing spectacular and certainly not gourmet (we'd have loved one of the wonderful crusty local breads, for example, or leaf tea) but pleasant enough.