Albany B&B-turned-boarding house a quiet escape

When Rosie Deveson and her family moved to Albany for a seachange 13 years ago, it was to escape the bright lights and bustling cityscapes of New York, London, Hong Kong and Singapore.

With her banker husband, Scott, keen to surrender his hectic work schedule in favour of watching their children grow up, the couple purchased the homestead at 3 Harbour Road, Bayonet Head and set about transforming it into their home and a bed and breakfast.

“We did it as a change of life,” Rosie says. “We lived in Hong Kong and Singapore for 12 years and London and New York before that. It was a really exciting life.

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“Then we moved to sleepy little Albany. It was such a seachange, but Scott really needed it. He was extremely hard working and would fly around a lot. It was exhausting.”

The couple who currently live here were looking for a seachange when they found Albany.

The couple operated the B&B for three years until Scott died suddenly in 2009, before Rosie took up the reins of the business solo, and raising her two children. In 2011, she was approached by Great Southern Grammar to use the property as a temporary boarding house.

“So, I went from being a mum of two to a mum of 18. It was really good fun and I loved it and did that for five years. These kids were all farm kids from regional WA staying in B&B standard accommodation, so basically all the kids were my guests for the five years and were ridiculously well looked after.”

Now dubbed Elliot House, the 10-bedroom, nine-bathroom country mansion sits on 1.15ha of manicured gardens, sweeping lawns and mature trees just 10km from the Albany township.

Spanish-style columns lead into the paved courtyard of the renovated 1930s brick and iron home, which showcases a grand hallway with timber flooring and period detail.

Three bedrooms make up the original home, while another seven sleeping spaces feature in the new wing, which includes raked ceilings, French windows, an expansive timber deck and luxurious lounge room with bay windows.