Professionals Serendipity 
Speaking with Cheryl Carmichael, owner and manager of Lisson Grove, reveals just how luxurious accommodation on Tamborine Mountain can be.
by Kyle Hitchmough
How did you get started operating Lisson Grove?
This is my background. I’ve always worked in hospitality, accommodation and restaurants. I just love the mountain and thought this is a beautiful place to run what I know and be happy where I am, rather than the city which is just not me.
You advertise yourself as providing accommodation as well as a day spa. Is the spa for guests only?
It is not. We have all the cottagers on one side of the property that were opened 22 years ago. 9 years ago, we opened the Castle. In the castle there are the two luxurious wings—three drawbridges, and the centre drawbridge is our day spa. It was predominantly built for our guests, but it’s open to the public as well. We have guests that stay at other accommodation on the mountain but come in too.
In addition to the standard cottages, you also offer “the Castle.” Can you describe what makes that so special?
The luxury. The wings are beautiful. They’re quite large—they’re more like an apartment than a room. There are two floors per wing, so they’re quite exclusive. We cater for people who want a special escape. It’s for people who want something really special and don’t mind paying extra for it. Each one has their own indoor heated plunge pool, big cinema screen, we do extra things in there for them like a full gourmet breakfast served to them. We did consider opening a separate breakfast venue, but we like to spoil our guests, so we take the breakfasts to them and then our housekeepers come in later to wash their dishes.
With the standard cottages, they can have a hot gourmet breakfast if they choose to, for an extra cost— in the Castle, it’s included in all the packages.
You’ve mentioned on your website that you have a specialisation in weddings?
We do. Beautiful small garden weddings. We have a marquee that we have in the centre of the gardens, and we cater for just a couple who wants to elope, we have a lot of elopements, and sometimes they’ll just have four friends or something like that. Sometimes they don’t have anybody, and we’re their witnesses. Which is lovely too, because it’s all about them. The first one we ever did here I thought it would be really sad. “Fancy just getting married on your own, just the two of you! That will be really missing a lot,” I thought. We were their witnesses, and it was not. It was so special. I cried! It was just beautiful. I think they are the most special weddings of all, because it’s just about them, not anybody else. Our weddings are only up to 50 people maximum.
What do you think is the biggest attraction about Lisson Grove?
I think we’re unique, in that we have something for most people. We have small cottages, and they’re inexpensive in relation to different accommodation available on the mountain. As far as cottages are concerned, we have some that are not highly priced but nice and lovely for a couple. All of ours are just for couples, we don’t have any family ones. Our cottages go up to a certain level, so if they want one with a bigger spa, if they want one with a deck, if they want one with privacy one has a private courtyard… And if someone wants something really special, we have the Castle.
What is your favourite part of this job?
The most important thing is you have to enjoy what you do. That makes the day a lot easier. I have a lot of interaction with my guests, which I really enjoy because they’re lovely. That’s my favourite part of the business: looking after the guests, chatting with them, making sure they’re happy.
Do you find you get a particular clientele over others?
Yes, because we’re couples only, predominantly it’s people who want to spend special time with each other. I think our lifestyles today are very busy. Most people to day work far too long and far too hard. An escape together is very important. That would be most of our business. We do have honeymoons and special occasions too, but I think an escape from our lifestyle today would account for most of it.
Are you a local to Tamborine Mountain? What’s your opinion on the area?
For the last 25 years. I absolutely love it. It’s caring, and it’s growing slowly. I remember there was a local lady who had a very sick child. In the local paper I couldn’t believe the support. The people who pulled together to support her and her family, people who didn’t know her, … there was just an outpouring of support. How wonderful is that? That’s true of the mountain, and it’s still happening. That hasn’t been lost.
What do you believe Lisson Grove provides to the area?
I think we have a responsibility to the people of south-east Queensland to maintain Tamborine Mountain as it is for everyone’s needs to come and visit somewhere beautiful like this – that’s still in touch with nature, that’s still relaxing, that people can come and stay away from the rat race… Like I said, we all work too hard and too long. If you come this far up the mountain it’s a different world to the suburbs, and I think we need to maintain that. Everyone needs somewhere to escape to. That’s what I believe our accommodation provides, as does the mountain itself.
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Or email the writer at kyle.hitchmough@hotmail.com, and follow me on Twitter @realcasualrvws.
