A sense of place

LET YOUR appreciation of GOOD DESIGN guide you to BURLEIGH HEADS for a very stylish STAY.

THERE IS A SMALL COASTAL TOWN in northern NSW that serves as the perfect archetype for the 1980s

quote: “If you build it, he will come.”

No, Kevin Costner didn’t build a baseball diamond in the Tweed Coast town of Cabarita Beach, but some clever hoteliers rebuilt an old surf motel there and the people did, indeed, come.

Five years ago, Cabarita Beach wasn’t much of a destination. While the low-key town had previously attracted shoestring-holiday families, by no stretch of the imagination was it a signal fire for contemporary luxury, until the ultra-sleek, Anna Spiro-designed Halcyon House opened its superbly renovated doors.

As Australia’s doyenne of design, Spiro knows how to distil the essence of place into the space between walls and forge an aesthetic worth travelling for. The sheer association of her name with a restaurant or hotel catapults an establishment to the top of the proverbial hot list. And while her talent is evident, there’s more to it than just a deft arrangement of pretty things. Her style, although adaptable, somehow embodies a bright, luxe and jubilant Australian-ness we’re all onboard with.

Perhaps her popularity speaks to our maturing as connoisseurs of accommodation. In that, where budget allows, we’re willing to substitute quantity for quality. We’re more open to sprinkling the year with bite-size escapes, rather than hoarding our leave for one marathon trip. And this means we’re hunting out next-level lodgings – the type that will beautify our social media presence.

Field of Dreams