Rosemont House - Di’s dream provides the best in customer service

Host Di Johnston

Di Johnston, the owner and creator of the experience is a bubbly, endearing host who ambitiously takes care of every single detail, with the aim of exceeding people’s expectations.

“Noojee means place of rest,” she said. “My hope is that when people come here to rest, they will be wowed by the service and the attention to detail in the rooms. This includes things like crystal wine glasses, quality linen, fine bone china and a gourmet selection of tea, coffee and hot chocolate. I have had guests describe sleeping in the beds is like sleeping on a cloud, which is really important.”

There are two luxuriously appointed, self-contained rooms named after rivers in the town – the ‘Toorongo’ and the ‘Latrobe’ with beautiful bathrooms and private access from a pretty sunlit verandah. Both rooms have ethanol fireplaces, which Di said are wonderful. “I put them in for the ambience but they actually throw out quite a bit of heat.”

She offers guests delicious breakfast baskets and the contents are all locally sourced. She makes her own fresh sourdough bread, which is immensely popular, served with homemade jams produced by a family member and Noojee Honey. She also provides homemade granola, fresh fruit and Gippsland yogurt and milk.

“I love to source things locally,” she said, “and I do the same with the platters I provide as well. The cheeses that I serve with my homemade sourdough crackers come from the Tarago River Cheese Company in Neerim and the smoked meat comes from Garfield. There’s a wonderful lady in Neerim South that supplies me with really nice pickled zucchinis that she makes and of course I have smoked trout dip from Noojee.” The location of the accommodation is perfect with a country outlook and stunning views of the small town surrounded by native forest. “Guests are able to park, stay and explore Noojee,” she said. “They can walk to the historic Trestle Bridge or the heritage centre; they can do several of the walks through the town’s natural terrain including The Loch Valley Tramway Walk, which crosses the Latrobe River. They can go to either of the two extremely popular pubs for dinner, the café for coffee or lunch and they can fish for trout and crayfish in the rivers, all within walking distance.”

It’s a short drive to the Alpine Trout Farm, the Toorongo and Amphitheatre Falls, a bit further to the Ada Tree, estimated to be over 300 years old, and it’s only a 60-minute drive to the slopes of Mt Baw Baw.

The rooms are part of a large, attractive Californian bungalow originally built in 1930, and moved to Noojee several years ago. Di said she came to look at the property on Christmas Eve in 2019 and made an offer that was accepted while driving back to Melbourne. She moved to the premises in February 2020 and spent nine months renovating to convert it to the style of accommodation she wanted.

“Noojee wasn’t my first choice,” she said. “My goal was to be an hour away from my family who are on the Mornington Peninsula and the first place I looked at was Loch. I loved Loch but it just wasn’t the right location for what I wanted to do."

ROSEMONT HOUSE

“My mother found the house in Noojee. She found lots of houses that weren’t right and then she found this one. She said ‘oh you’ll love Noojee. Noojee’s great. We go there with the car club, you’ll love it’. Well – I did love it and when I looked at the house, I could see that the plan suited what I wanted to do.”

She said when she opened, the website went live before it was supposed to and she had a booking before she knew it. “It was on Christmas day, which was lovely really and the guests were gorgeous people.”

She said in April, the business was up to about 45% occupancy and of course since then there have been rolling lockdowns, but November is looking good with most weekends booked out. At the moment she does everything herself including all the cleaning, cooking and hosting but said when the business gets up to 80 % occupancy, she’ll be looking for some help.

Di has dreamed of being an accommodation provider for many years. She said it’s something she’s always wanted to do. “I don’t know why, but even before I had children I wanted to do it. I love customer service.”

For about 12 years, she had an enjoyable and rewarding career as a travel agent. She travelled the world staying in all types of accommodation so she knew what she liked, and said it’s all the small touches and little surprises. “It might be someone making up your room and putting some chocolates on your pillow, and you think wow that’s nice. It makes people feel special and I think that’s important.

All those little things make a difference but it seems we’ve lost the art of real customer service and that’s really sad because it doesn’t take much. It is something that improves people’s general health. It gives them the opportunity to reconnect with their partners and to stop and have some down time from their busy lives so they don’t have to think about anything else.”

For more information visit: www.rosemonthouse.com.au

A breakfast basket in the Toorongo room

The Latrobe room The Latrobe room

The Toorongo room