Steph King knows a thing or two about Victoria’s Bellarine Peninsula. After all, she’s lived there for most of her life and is part of a fourth-generation family known for cultivating consciously-minded businesses focused on giving back to this beautiful coastal region.
About 8 years ago Steph and her landscape designer husband Jason landed their dream property in the delightful seaside town of Ocean Grove, complete with two self-contained cabins ripe for refurbishment.
Without overdoing it and while raising two young daughters in the process, they worked to respectfully overhaul the cabins by way of fresh styling and a moderate renovation, enabling them to open to guests in 2016.
Since then, they’ve gone from strength to strength, having seized every opportunity possible to support and showcase products from local businesses to guests, all the while educating them about the local wildlife and the town and property’s heritage.
The Woods was last year named the winner of the Victorian Tourism Industry Council’s award for self-contained accommodation, an accolade that involves embarking on a significant and prolonged application process.
Steph has been an active member of the Hosting With Heart community almost since day dot, having generously lent her advice and support to so many other hosts, including myself, on many occasions. It was a long held goal for me to get her onto the podcast and I am so thrilled that I finally did. I hope you’ll get a great deal of enjoyment out of our chat today.