Shepherd's Story - Simplistic Luxury Cottage, Ross

Shepherds Story is built from the sandstone of the structure that stood here before it, and the restoration has kept things deliberately plain. Lime plaster walls, exposed timber beams, natural finishes throughout. Nothing shiny, nothing trying too hard. Stone walls this thick do something to sound, and the first thing most guests notice is how quiet it is. It sits just outside Ross and sleeps two.



The main house is a single open room, and a cosy one. A queen bed with organic linens sits at one end, made up so that getting into it at the end of a cold day feels like the reward it should. At the other end is a small living space sized exactly for two, with a SONOS and a record player for the nights you decide not to go anywhere. A wood fired heater takes the chill off, which in the Midlands it will, and the room warms quickly once it's going.



The kitchen is compact and properly equipped: two gas burners, a mini fridge and a BBQ out the back. Enough for simple meals done well rather than elaborate ones done in a hurry. Bring good bread, something from the Ross bakery, a bottle of whatever you like, and you're set. There's a french press for mornings, which are best taken slowly out on the verandah while the paddocks come into the light.



The bathroom sits separate from the main house, reached across a covered verandah with a large dining table running along it. Worth the few steps. An oval freestanding tub deep enough to disappear into, a herringbone-tiled shower and a sculptural concrete basin, with limewashed walls. The details have been thought about: waffle linen towels, robes hanging ready. That verandah becomes the centre of the place in good weather, and the dining table is where most meals end up regardless of what the plan was.



Outside, a courtyard and a fire pit, and beyond them paddocks running as far as you can see. The hot tub sits under a covered area, and on a clear Midlands night, with no town glow to speak of, it's the whole argument for coming here. The fire pit handles the rest of the evening, and there's usually no reason to go inside until the cold decides for you. Bikes are provided, and the ride into Ross is short, flat and genuinely pleasant.



The village itself rewards a slow wander. The Ross Bridge is one of the finest convict-built structures in the country, carved in 1836 by masons whose work was good enough to earn them their freedom, and you can still pick out individual faces in the sandstone. The bakery has a vanilla slice with a reputation that travels further than the town does. The Wrinkly Tin will absorb an hour or two if you like antiques, and the Female Factory site down by the river is quietly one of the most affecting historical places in Tasmania. Ross sits almost exactly halfway between Hobart and Launceston, which makes it an easy stop and a better place to stay than to pass through.



This is a small cottage that asks very little of you. No television, no rushing, nothing much to do beyond decide whether tonight is a fire pit night or a hot tub night. That's the whole idea, and it's why people come back.