Henry’s on Balfour - Historic understated luxury

The heritage of the location

First Impression was “ what have we done “ because of the outside of the house was overgrown. However once inside we were impressed hence the high scores

The location was fantastic. The house was charming The ability to be so close to amenities and walking distance to the centre of town, and yet in a quiet space when you arrived 'home' was lovely. The kitchen seemed to have all that you need to cook and create in. The pantry had bits and pieces that are always appreciated. The number of 'living spaces' was impressive.

Big picture - The adventure started with a massive disappointment that left a sour taste - in that the card I had registered to use did not have sufficient funds - so our booking was cancelled! I was mid holiday and travelling - driving down from Sydney - so I did not register the issue until it happened. Thus we were on the brink of arriving and found we did not have a house to call 'home' Lucky I was able to jump on line and rebook the house again - BUT want irked me was that the price had increased more than $200 from our original booking price (and it is not economical accommodation to start with) I reached out to Annabell the owner - and advised my situation, suggested that she could have just rung me directly and we could have resolved the problem instantly, and asked if she would consider reducing the figure the to original booking price I had booked in with weeks ago - but was told that this was out of her control (really?) and something that booking.com managed. Meanwhile my accommodation in Beechworth - (when this happened also - it was not a good week ) simply rang me and I fixed the issue within minutes. The house was spacious and worked well for a family of 5 - though cold - Launceston went through a cold snap the week we were there - and the only heater we were allowed to use was the oil heater in the kitchen/living space. The locked room upstairs was a little creepy - though we got used to it The garden has great bones - though run down and in need of some love and attention - and that let the property down. On that Annabell - you will need to prune your lemon tree soon - as it's branches are likely to break both the kitchen and Laundry windows if the winds truly prick up.

We absolutely loved our stay and would return again next time we are in Launceston. The house is beautifully appointed and looks like it’s straight out of a magazine. It’s an easy walk into town while also proving space for up to 2 small to medium cars. We also loved the welcome box and grazing platter options and took advantage of both and the convenience of having a stocked fridge for our arrival.

Nothing

Beautifully presented historic home within walking distance of Launceston CBD - great coffee and a Coles supermarket are just around the corner which was a bonus. Beds were comfortable and we had some lovely treats waiting for us on arrival.

Many issues throughout our three days stay that made for quite an uncomfortable experience. Our main issues had to do with the heating or lack thereof - we absolutely froze in the house as the heating did not seem to be working/was not warm enough and could not be modulated by turning the dials on the panel heaters - the only bit of warm floor was in the downstairs bathroom. The WI-FI signal was appalling/non-existent and as we were driving a large SUV the parking situation was extremely tedious. Other issues included difficulty finding light switches, an awkwardly uncomfortable dining room table, dirty appliances (clothes dryer filled with lint and another guests forgotten items) as well as a lack of basic amenities (e.g. no tissues, ran out of body wash in 1 bathroom, not enough tea towels and garbage bags for the length of our stay plus an errant recycling bin). Our time at this property was planned as an opportunity for us to rest, relax and re-charge our batteries as part of a larger trip and it was very difficult to do so given all the issues mentioned - sadly, we were actually pleased to leave by the end of our stay.