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Devotees of music legends like Nick Cave, David Grohl and Blondie are rocking their way into regional NSW, many of them enticed by the opportunity to spend an intimate evening with their idols … for a price.
At Boogie Woogie Beach House in the beachside village of Old Bar on the NSW Mid North Coast, musically-minded guests are personally introduced to their chosen artist when they check in.
Cave stands larger than life in his compact queen bed offering, Blondie in her family suite, and Foo Fighter Grohl is in his grungy queen quarters, with a Mixed Tape Suite for the cassette tragics, with posthumous nods to Bowie (the Ziggy king suite with spa) and Louis ‘Satchmo’ Armstrong rounding out the cleverly designed offerings.
You would be forgiven for thinking that a town like Old Bar – a little over three hours drive north of Sydney between Forster-Tuncurry and Port Macquarie and with a population of just 4,400 residents – is perhaps the most unlikely of places to spend an evening with these giants of the music industry, and while it’s obviously not possible in the literal sense, a stay here is the next best thing.
“Shortly after opening I pulled up outside one night … I could hear a record playing from one of the rooms upstairs,” Boogie Woogie Beach House proprietor Stephen Doessel told me during my recent stay. “When I looked up a couple was dancing to a record on the terrace outside their room, it was magical. That was the moment I realised that what we had taken on by buying this place was something special.”
Doessel, a former chief financial officer turned hotelier, knows he’s on to a good thing with Boogie Woogie having its own point of difference, one that appeals to a broad cross-section of travellers from near and far.
“Aside from the theme, we have really tried to pay homage to the heritage of this 110-year-old building by upcycling the old timber and working that into the design.”
Each room has its own record player and ‘noteworthy’ interiors, with guests encouraged to visit the in-house vinyl library just down the corridor. It’s here they can borrow any one of a number of albums from artists like The Doors, ABBA, Johnny Cash, Pseudo Echo, Whitney Houston, and Men At Work, to name but a few.
I did just that and let Bowie entertain me with his Aladdin Sane album (1973), his sixth studio record.
On the rare occasion that the music stopped, I was grateful to be within walking distance of Old Bar Beach and when day turned to night I enjoyed a tapas meal with a side order of free live music at the hotel’s Flow Bar, a licensed venue that oozes as much character and appeal as the accommodation itself, which by the way has been soundproofed to ensure a restful sleep for all.
Stays at Boogie Woogie Beach House start from just under $200 a night with breakfast available at a price.
Finally, a word of warning, if you get hooked on the place … ‘Blame it on the Boogie’!
For more on the region surrounding Old Bar visit the Barrington Coast website.
** The writer was a paying guest of the property.
For as long as I can remember I’ve been a writer, combining that with an inquisitive mind and a desire for adventure and cultural immersion, and well, that’s me.
