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Hatherley House

43 High St.

Launceston , Tasmania , Australia www.hatherleyhouse.com.au

61-3-6334-7727

Flora de Kantzow's intimate nine-room hotel is a restored circa-1830's mansion; Georgian and Victorian architecture (winding staircases, carved archways, stained-glass windows) has been blended with the new: glass and stainless-steel spa bathrooms, heated floors, flat-screen TV's. From the breakfast room, looking out on a hillside, we watch an early-morning sky overlaid with a searing-yellow glow; the effect is that of a Vermeer painting. The inn maintains its connection to the land outside, serving local melon and berries with yogurt and homemade muesli, and even its own line of plum preserves.