The new owners of the Victoria and Albert Guesthouse at Mount Victoria want to be part of the revitalisation of the little village.
Shane McLucas and Michael Sheargold fell in love with the V&A when they were travelling through to Lithgow one day.
"It's just a wonderful old building," said Mr McLucas, "some beautiful architecture... It was one of those things we thought 'oh my god what a beautiful property'."
"We want to do a freshen up and tidy up and clean up," Mr McLucas said, adding they want to make it "gleam again".
The pair have most recently been running a coaching company for businesses, operating in Australia and New Zealand to help develop new leaders within the businesses.
They have also been involved with high end fashion companies and high end holiday rentals.
As well as running the V&A as a guesthouse and restaurant, the paid want to include the community in their plans, offering the building as a venue for events, both large and small.
"We went on a trip down to Bowral and some of the more historic properties ... are open to the community. So if the local community wants to run something or do something, we would be open to doing that," Mr McLucas said.
Already the knitting group has been in and the doors are open to any others who need a place to meet and gather, vital to the town since the closure of the Imperial Hotel about five years ago (see story p8).
But with the establishment of Hotel Etico in the nearby Mt Victoria House and now a spruced-up Victoria and Albert on the cards, there are promising signs for the village.
The V&A is open as a guesthouse on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights and the restaurant is open for Friday and Saturday dinners.
The new owners' immediate plans - apart from freshening up the interiors - may include a trivia night. They will also be hosting Yulefest from July 2 through to August, with the traditional big ham, a roast, band and visiting Santa.
The chef who has been with the business for five years has stayed on and will continue to serve up warm and hearty food.
Mr McLucas said they wanted to "work in tune with other businesses... If the Manor House is having an event we'll make sure we don't have something on at the same time."
The couple and their daughter, Frankie, will start off combining Mountain living with Sydney life but it's likely they will eventually move up full-time.
"We're just super excited about it," Mr McLucas said. "Mt Victoria has something special about it, something unique."
