A Pagan Place
27/05/2011 11:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
izmeinaJust returned from a wonderful weird few days down south in the serpent's favorite sacred site - well sort of. Decided to deviate slightly by staying in a different place.
One of the prettiest places to sit in the little town is on an old park bench in an alcove near a church gate overlooking the hills, a disused railway line and a gorgeous old building with an iron roof and green painted veranda.
It is a hotel as well as a restaurant and the view over from the church is towards the kitchen and upstairs balcony.
Would sit there after sunset admiring the view and wondering what wicked sorts of dishes were being brewed in that mysterious kitchen and what sort of beastly creatures would be lurking on that balcony
This was the perfect spot for reading spooking Lovecraft stories and that is exactly what Izzie had been doing the last two years down there.
Figured that it was finally time to find out about the lurkers in the dark. Did inquire last year about the cost of rooms there. The standard rooms were $100 per night and the deluxe rooms $120 for singles and an extra $20 per extra person. But the big minus was no breakfast
Figured that $100 was quite reasonable until noticing the maps and realizing that those rooms were the awful motel things out the back also visible from the church and looking like something out of some 1950s horror movie.
Since the whole point was to be upstairs in the old house near the balcony this was not going to do at all. So decadent deluxe it would have to be.
Finally got round to visiting the hotel's website on the first day of May. Izzie is such a pathetic procrastinating python. Just a peek was sufficient to confirm that visiting once a year is just not enough.
So found the booking page and was intrigued to see that there was another category of rooms listed that were not even mentioned in the brochures - just listed as basic rooms with no pictures of them or information of any sort.
The price was ever ever so tempting at a mere $60 which is cheaper than any of the rooms in the usual location. But since the standard rooms were large but nasty looking prefab motel jobs, these cheapies must surely be a couple of shoe boxes near the wheelie bins.
And wasn't the whole point of staying in this particular place to be in the gorgeous old building itself preferably upstairs? So played safe and stuck to the decadent deluxe option at twice the price.
After a very inspired train trip down on Tuesday and even the second leg on the coach was quite enjoyable, the Izzie was constantly pestered by nanowrimo muses whispering oodles of ideas into the green serpent skull.
Arrived at the hotel only to find that they had stuffed up the reservation. Was a bit peeved having paid in advance by credit card. Turns out another customer with the same name had cancelled and they had gotten the wrong one. It's not like it's Izzie Smith or Jones we are talking about here. How many Dursleys can there possibly be and another one decides to travel to the same place at the same time and then chickens out? Probably realized that Bridgetown is the most unDursleyish place imaginable and then went for some place more suitable like Manjimup just 30 minutes down the road
They did find the Izzie reservation with the request for a room upstairs in the old house and rang the other Dursley in Perth to confirm that he had indeed cancelled.
Once this was all sorted out, asked if it was possible to peek at the cheapie rooms for future reference before going to the one assigned for the next two days
Was also wondering why they were not listed in the brochures. No problems. Those are apparently what they call the 'hot boxes' - rooms of last resort as they don't have proper heating or airconditioning, they have no ensuites and are quite small.
Turns out that these two rooms are at the top of the stairs in the old building with windows overlooking the balcony. Izzie would be inclined to call them cute and cozy rather than tiny and they were still big enough for a double bed with space to spare
The serpent's room was right next door. It was much much bigger with a grand four poster bed with burgundy and gold bed linen and a large bathroom adjoining.
It was gorgeous but not twice as nice. But did not regret playing safe as it was quite nice to have a private bathroom. That is the one big big problem with the usual lurking ground which is also in an old house. Four of the rooms - two doubles and two singles share the same common bathroom. No big deal during the week but when all the rooms are full you got to resort to getting up very early to beat the mad rush.
This hotel - since all the rooms upstairs have ensuites except the two cheapies and there are two bathrooms at the end of the corridor - there's no bathroom or loo blues to worry about at all
So spent lots of time in the evening sitting on the balcony and also was out there drinking cups of coffee in the morning. The room had a kettle, milk, coffee and teabags so just needed to get some nibblies from the local stores for a cheapskate breakfast
After sorting out our bag lady stuff and snooping in the bathroom, the first mission in this decadent and gorgeous old room was to snoop through all the bedside tables and the writing desk in search of a certain something. Searched high and low and was kind of amused that it was not to be found at all. But maybe it hides its presence from unbelievers. Signs and wonders
Wondered if it would be a good idea to go down to reception to demand a copy of the Gideon Bible.
Turned out the writing desk with its strange design of two raised surfaces and a sunken one in the middle was just the perfect size for laying out tarot cards for plotting and planning
Had 12 on one side and 12 on the other and squiggled ideas and inspirations in the notebook which was sitting in the middle
There was one more ritual to be observed before leaving on Thursday morning.
Back around July 2009 stumbled across The One Deck - a set of tarot cards that was love at first sight. Called the Dark Grimoire - it was based on H P Lovecraft stories. But the atmosphere and the look of the places depicted in this sepia toned deck of doom was uncannily like this very town - especially the church across the road and the many old buildings made of wood with spooky turrets and towers and lots of balconies.
So to sit on this very balcony overlooking the town while peeking through the deck as if looking through a photo album was a most suitable way to spend some time and very inspiring it was too.
Remembered back to other times sitting near that church and starting a book with the very promising title of "Shadowmancer" which turned out to be a monstrous abomination and sample of the definitely deviant art form called "Christian Fiction"
Lucky that a certain serpent seen the error of her ways and discovered the real thing instead of wasting time with wannabees. But maybe it is worth another peek if only to learn 'what not to do' when wanting to write spooky stories of the supernatural.
Checked out on Thursday morning after reluctantly saying goodbye to that fascinating and intriguing balcony. Once again took a parting glance at the map in the reception office. Realized that nearly all the deluxe rooms were in the very pretty but new nearby brick building and without that specific request would have ended up in one of them. It seems that everyone these days wants the bright shiny and those that appreciate the magnificence of the Old Ones and the Old Ways are an endangered species
So most contented to know that it is possible to indulge this decadent addiction to this most spooky and eldritch locations for a mere 60 sickles per night. It's getting the time off from work that is the main obstacle
Still sticking to the usual place for the annual garden festival as we really missed the songs of frogs late at night and the gorgeous breakfasts and especially the black starry skies.
Even a handful of street lights are sufficient to scare away the stars at night so the balcony proved unsuitable for stargazing in spite of seeming perfect for such purposes in the cold light of day
So now waking from this wonderful dream world and back to mundane muggle reality, it's time to muse and ponder on the strange faces and places down there - seen and unseen and twist them into threads of some long and strange tale over the next month or two
One of the prettiest places to sit in the little town is on an old park bench in an alcove near a church gate overlooking the hills, a disused railway line and a gorgeous old building with an iron roof and green painted veranda.
It is a hotel as well as a restaurant and the view over from the church is towards the kitchen and upstairs balcony.
Would sit there after sunset admiring the view and wondering what wicked sorts of dishes were being brewed in that mysterious kitchen and what sort of beastly creatures would be lurking on that balcony
This was the perfect spot for reading spooking Lovecraft stories and that is exactly what Izzie had been doing the last two years down there.
Figured that it was finally time to find out about the lurkers in the dark. Did inquire last year about the cost of rooms there. The standard rooms were $100 per night and the deluxe rooms $120 for singles and an extra $20 per extra person. But the big minus was no breakfast
Figured that $100 was quite reasonable until noticing the maps and realizing that those rooms were the awful motel things out the back also visible from the church and looking like something out of some 1950s horror movie.
Since the whole point was to be upstairs in the old house near the balcony this was not going to do at all. So decadent deluxe it would have to be.
Finally got round to visiting the hotel's website on the first day of May. Izzie is such a pathetic procrastinating python. Just a peek was sufficient to confirm that visiting once a year is just not enough.
So found the booking page and was intrigued to see that there was another category of rooms listed that were not even mentioned in the brochures - just listed as basic rooms with no pictures of them or information of any sort.
The price was ever ever so tempting at a mere $60 which is cheaper than any of the rooms in the usual location. But since the standard rooms were large but nasty looking prefab motel jobs, these cheapies must surely be a couple of shoe boxes near the wheelie bins.
And wasn't the whole point of staying in this particular place to be in the gorgeous old building itself preferably upstairs? So played safe and stuck to the decadent deluxe option at twice the price.
After a very inspired train trip down on Tuesday and even the second leg on the coach was quite enjoyable, the Izzie was constantly pestered by nanowrimo muses whispering oodles of ideas into the green serpent skull.
Arrived at the hotel only to find that they had stuffed up the reservation. Was a bit peeved having paid in advance by credit card. Turns out another customer with the same name had cancelled and they had gotten the wrong one. It's not like it's Izzie Smith or Jones we are talking about here. How many Dursleys can there possibly be and another one decides to travel to the same place at the same time and then chickens out? Probably realized that Bridgetown is the most unDursleyish place imaginable and then went for some place more suitable like Manjimup just 30 minutes down the road
They did find the Izzie reservation with the request for a room upstairs in the old house and rang the other Dursley in Perth to confirm that he had indeed cancelled.
Once this was all sorted out, asked if it was possible to peek at the cheapie rooms for future reference before going to the one assigned for the next two days
Was also wondering why they were not listed in the brochures. No problems. Those are apparently what they call the 'hot boxes' - rooms of last resort as they don't have proper heating or airconditioning, they have no ensuites and are quite small.
Turns out that these two rooms are at the top of the stairs in the old building with windows overlooking the balcony. Izzie would be inclined to call them cute and cozy rather than tiny and they were still big enough for a double bed with space to spare
The serpent's room was right next door. It was much much bigger with a grand four poster bed with burgundy and gold bed linen and a large bathroom adjoining.
It was gorgeous but not twice as nice. But did not regret playing safe as it was quite nice to have a private bathroom. That is the one big big problem with the usual lurking ground which is also in an old house. Four of the rooms - two doubles and two singles share the same common bathroom. No big deal during the week but when all the rooms are full you got to resort to getting up very early to beat the mad rush.
This hotel - since all the rooms upstairs have ensuites except the two cheapies and there are two bathrooms at the end of the corridor - there's no bathroom or loo blues to worry about at all
So spent lots of time in the evening sitting on the balcony and also was out there drinking cups of coffee in the morning. The room had a kettle, milk, coffee and teabags so just needed to get some nibblies from the local stores for a cheapskate breakfast
After sorting out our bag lady stuff and snooping in the bathroom, the first mission in this decadent and gorgeous old room was to snoop through all the bedside tables and the writing desk in search of a certain something. Searched high and low and was kind of amused that it was not to be found at all. But maybe it hides its presence from unbelievers. Signs and wonders
Wondered if it would be a good idea to go down to reception to demand a copy of the Gideon Bible.
Turned out the writing desk with its strange design of two raised surfaces and a sunken one in the middle was just the perfect size for laying out tarot cards for plotting and planning
Had 12 on one side and 12 on the other and squiggled ideas and inspirations in the notebook which was sitting in the middle
There was one more ritual to be observed before leaving on Thursday morning.
Back around July 2009 stumbled across The One Deck - a set of tarot cards that was love at first sight. Called the Dark Grimoire - it was based on H P Lovecraft stories. But the atmosphere and the look of the places depicted in this sepia toned deck of doom was uncannily like this very town - especially the church across the road and the many old buildings made of wood with spooky turrets and towers and lots of balconies.
So to sit on this very balcony overlooking the town while peeking through the deck as if looking through a photo album was a most suitable way to spend some time and very inspiring it was too.
Remembered back to other times sitting near that church and starting a book with the very promising title of "Shadowmancer" which turned out to be a monstrous abomination and sample of the definitely deviant art form called "Christian Fiction"
Lucky that a certain serpent seen the error of her ways and discovered the real thing instead of wasting time with wannabees. But maybe it is worth another peek if only to learn 'what not to do' when wanting to write spooky stories of the supernatural.
Checked out on Thursday morning after reluctantly saying goodbye to that fascinating and intriguing balcony. Once again took a parting glance at the map in the reception office. Realized that nearly all the deluxe rooms were in the very pretty but new nearby brick building and without that specific request would have ended up in one of them. It seems that everyone these days wants the bright shiny and those that appreciate the magnificence of the Old Ones and the Old Ways are an endangered species
So most contented to know that it is possible to indulge this decadent addiction to this most spooky and eldritch locations for a mere 60 sickles per night. It's getting the time off from work that is the main obstacle
Still sticking to the usual place for the annual garden festival as we really missed the songs of frogs late at night and the gorgeous breakfasts and especially the black starry skies.
Even a handful of street lights are sufficient to scare away the stars at night so the balcony proved unsuitable for stargazing in spite of seeming perfect for such purposes in the cold light of day
So now waking from this wonderful dream world and back to mundane muggle reality, it's time to muse and ponder on the strange faces and places down there - seen and unseen and twist them into threads of some long and strange tale over the next month or two
