The rather attractive landlady says it takes a certain understanding of people to run a bed-and-breakfast...
Wendy Robinson travelled the world as a BOAC air-hostess, learning how to handle the moods of capricious passengers; and despite their occasionally demanding behaviour, she left her flying career in VC10s and 707s still liking people. She and her husband had friends come and stay for weekends in their large house in the English countryside, and later, on their farm in Benalla, Victoria, they took on paying guests.
The next ‘people business’ was B&B, and today Wendy and her partner, Jonathan Wright, operate an aristocratic old guest-house on the St.Kilda foreshore, (which TV’s globe-trotting George Negus, a regular, describes as ‘a bit special, quirky and thoughtful’).
The Robinsons by the Sea entry in the B&B guide-books depicts it as ‘an elegant bed and breakfast inn’. ‘Elegant’ is perhaps the wrong word. ‘Thoughtful,’ (as Negus says), is more appropriate. The two-storey house on Beaconsfield Parade is 130 years old, a haughty edifice with the same black iron gate that swung open to ladies in large hats and gentlemen swinging canes. Once inside, the guest is lost in a melange of Balinese masks, an ancient monkey cage, chandeliers, statuettes and Victoriana. Tiles around the fire-places are painted with lilies; a pair of hand-made children’s riding-boots stand in the hallway; library shelves groan with thrillers, romances and biographies; the philosophy of an Indian mystic is left - thoughtfully - on a bedside table.
If you wish to settle into the sofa in the front drawing-room, mind Periwinkle, the cat, asleep on a cushion; Wendy’s two well-behaved dogs slumber nearby. A tray of sherries stands on a table in the corner; like the champagne, wines and beer in the ‘fridge, they are to be partaken under the honour system; you sign for them.
Upstairs you have the choice of five quiet boudoirs (‘bedsittingrooms’ would hardly do them justice), with king and queen-size beds, fluffy doonas and draped canopies. Antique armchairs stand next to tables set with crystal glasses and decanters; Eastern artefacts, bric-a-brac and vivid paintings give the lodger the impression of a comfortably eccentric country house set in another era.
Just along the passage, heated bathrooms, one with a spa, have wicker baskets overflowing with towels, shampoos, conditioners, razors and scents. A basket of chocolates awaits by the phone, payment going to Crime Stoppers.
And then there is the ‘breakfast’ part of the B&B.
Wendy says it’s easy to identify the first time B&B people: they are shy at joining other guests at the large dining-room table. But once they smell the freshly-ground plunger coffee, taste the croissants, smoked trout, smoked salmon and Redlich sausages, hesitancy is forgotten and breakfast can dawdle on chattily towards noon. Where are you from? What are you going to do today? Where will we have lunch? What tram do we catch? Wendy has the answers, "but I try not to hover, or get too involved."
The Visitors’ Book has the comments ‘restful’, ‘home away from home’ and ‘charming’. The one Wendy likes best is : ‘We’ll be back.’
