They settled on Grunty Fen. The sign outside their property declares that it is exactly 66km to Mudgee and 66km to Lithgow.

Grunty Fen is now on the market for $420,000, reflecting the work and money that has been put into the property: a three-bedroom house, farm sheds, chook pens and in 1995, the piece de resistance, two self-contained tourist cottages.

“If we were younger we might have pursued building more cottages for small conferences, but we never got that far,” says [Roy]. “But the cottages are enough for us to maintain. More than half of our customers are returnees, and they are our best advertisers.”

* Rural

ROY and Judy Rawson did what all the retirement investors tell you not to do — invested in a “lizard block”.

The block, known as Grunty Fen, wasn’t even fenced, had no infrastructure and was totally unsuited to farming.

That was in 1989, when both were retrenched and very fed up Sydney professionals living in trendy inner-city Paddington.

Roy, a jack of all trades, was working as a manager in migrant centres. Judy was a senior administrator in National Parks. Both were looking for a more peaceful life.

“We were looking for cool nights, sweet water and good soil,” recalls Judy Rawson. “We didn’t find the good soil, but we got the rest.”

The pair searched virtually the whole of NSW for their dream spot.

They settled on Grunty Fen. The sign outside their property declares that it is exactly 66km to Mudgee and 66km to Lithgow.

“We walked over it, and we liked what we saw, we liked the 20ha forest, the streams and the house site with its views down the Ilford valley,” says Roy. “And we liked the price — $75,000 for the land only.”

Grunty Fen is now on the market for $420,000, reflecting the work and money that has been put into the property: a three-bedroom house, farm sheds, chook pens and in 1995, the piece de resistance, two self-contained tourist cottages.

The Rawsons had a simple aim in building the cottages — they had travelled the world and were looking for the sort of place they always wished they could find but rarely could, something charming, cheap and comfortable, a home away from home.

Thus was born Wombat Hilltop Cottages. They were originally called the Wombat Hilton, until the hotel chain got its nose out of joint.

They were designed by Judy and built by Roy. After some predictable to-ing and fro-ing they were given council approval after the event.

And yes, there are wombats on the property, some 23 hand-reared orphans.

Before building the cottages the couple investigated all sorts of ways of making a living — freshwater crayfish, olives, hazelnuts, waratahs and sheep. None were very practical. Tourists seemed a better bet.

The cottages generate income of around $10,000 a year, more than enough to nicely complement their retirement income.

“If we were younger we might have pursued building more cottages for small conferences, but we never got that far,” says Roy. “But the cottages are enough for us to maintain. More than half of our customers are returnees, and they are our best advertisers.”

The cottages, which can accommodate between six and eight people, are timber lined, with cathedral ceilings, farmhouse-style kitchens and slow-combustion fires.