“It’s a busy little town, there’s always something happening,” say Trish Young, manager of the Colonial Motel in Braidwood.

“It’s a nice town to stay. When you come [you’ll find] there’s a few restaurants. The pubs are nice; they do nice meals. The club’s nice.”

Trish also noted that Braidwood is between Canberra and Bateman’s Bay, and not too far from Sydney either, so “We’re located in a good area” for travellers.

Very much a family-run operation, Trish has been managing the motel for the past seven years, and she and husband Peter are currently buying it.

Colonial Motel in Braidwood, 02 4842 2027

The motel has been in the town for about 30 years, and Trish has “been in Braidwood since 1965. My dad used to own a local bakery, so originally I’m a baker.”

Now her three daughters pitch in to help with the property’s maintenance when required, and Trish gets to look after her grandkids quite often.

“I took on the motel because all my girls are grown up and they were starting to have children, and I could be their nanny,” Trish says of being a proud grandparent.

“I wanted to be able to look after them so they didn’t need to go into child care.”

That means “it’s a family motel. My girls help me if needed,” plus Trish has an employee as well.

Having illustrated that they all live in town with their families, “no one has left, we’re all still here. We must like Braidwood,” Trish laughed.

The motel was freshened-up when Trish took over seven years ago, and she’s quite pleased with how much it was improved.

They also get all sorts of visitors. Braidwood has many events through the year as well as holiday travellers coming through.

“It’s not very often when we’re not booked out,” Trish notes. “We get a lot of workers during the week, and sometimes bus loads come in.” With 10 rooms in total “The motel is in a nice spot, so you can go outdoors and sit outside in a grassed area,” Trish says. “You can go out in a barbeque area and there are some chairs to sit on. People always say it’s nice, it was a lovely stay. The beds are great.”