I with my husband Graham Dean moved to Melbourne Australia from England in 1991 along with our 6-month-old daughter. In 1994 we moved to Sydney and the following year welcomed our son. In 2000 we moved back to Melbourne where I graduated in Interior Design and started my own consultancy design business, I also spent time in real estate while studying for my design diploma and then worked as a Kitchen Designer and finally ended up in retail kitchen/bathroom sales which sat well alongside my business.
After our children left home we decided we would like to spend more time together and lead a less stressful life. We began our search for the perfect town with the idea to start a business running a bed and breakfast. We happily discovered Strathalbyn and for the past 5 years I together with my husband have been the business owners/operators of the Gasworks self-catering Cottages. I love the gardens and maintaining them and have won Best Business Gardens two years running and currently hold the title of overall Grand Champion Garden.
After moving to Strathalbyn in 2016 and starting up our business, I decided after a year and being made to feel most welcome, that I’d like to become more involved in the town. First, in 2017 I joined the SLTA a Strathalbyn tourism group and became the Secretary, in due course, the SLTA dropped the Lakes and became the STA – Strathalbyn Tourism Association. The group is growing and still welcoming new members. Over 18 months ago we acquired the Gilberts showroom and sheds, the building had been closed and was due to be boarded up. After a social meeting of the STA we brainstormed a solution as a huge empty space in the High Street would be bad for all the local businesses and tourism alike and so the Gilbert’s Motor Museum was born and has evolved with much-appreciated help from volunteers and kind donations. We recently won the Heritage Tourism Award and currently welcome in excess of 700 visitors a month. I am proud to be part of the Sub Committee that put together and produced the new map and visitor guide for the town. We are also bringing back the Antique Fair in 2021, August 14th and 15th and continuing to run the monthly market in the Gilbert’s Motor Museum car park. I became President of the STA in 2020 and hope to, with the STA group, bring more events to our beautiful town.