In 1999, the financier Michael Maxwell was flipping through a newspaper when he spotted an advertisement for a 1930s lodge on Lord Howe Island, Australia, an island he'd visited as a child. He called the number, and within six months he owned a patch of land complete with a café and four holiday huts. He became one of the island's 400 residents.Lord Howe Island.
In 2013, after Michael Maxwell retired and Timmy Maxwell gained experience working in hospitality, the father and son decided to make Lord Howe Island their permanent home and rebuild the huts to rent out.They bought the rights to a plant nursery next to their property. They also decided to turn the café and the holiday huts into a new family home for themselves and build two new holiday houses.
on the island, so the Maxwells made use of solar power and rainwater throughout the property. They also oriented the villas so guests could wake up to views of the jungle filled with 800-year-old banyan trees.Facing challenges and sourcing furnitureWorld Heritage Site They thought many times that they'd bitten off more than they could chew."We would be working on the build, dealing with deliveries, and then a pipe would burst in the nursery," Timmy Maxwell said."Our goal and that dream was threatened many times."