Bridgefield Guest House

Bridgefield Guest House is an adults-only heritage guest house at the entrance to Margaret River town, classified by the National Trust and recorded on the State Heritage Office register as Place 04934.

Hospitality has run on this site since the 1890s, when Thomas and Elizabeth Higgins kept a staging post and stables for travellers on the road south. The present building went up in 1931 for Elizabeth and her daughter Agnes, who ran it as a boarding house for school teachers, bank clerks and itinerant workers until 1989.

Its second life began in 2003 under Sam Caruso, who also retro-restored Darnell's General Store at Witchcliffe. The result is post-Victorian with a steampunk streak: timber panelling and Chesterfield couches, brass and salvaged fittings, and an open fire. Guests tend to call it eclectic and characterful rather than polished, which is a fair assessment.

Eight rooms and suites are spread across three buildings. The original guest house at the front holds four heritage rooms with private ensuites, and also houses the restaurants. Then there's the Bridgefield Cabin, self-contained with its own terrace. The Gallery, a two-storey weatherboard building with deep balconies added later in Bridgefield's history, holds two rooms sharing a communal seating area and kitchen, plus a suite with private kitchen, spa bath and a perimeter balcony looking towards the forest.

Two essential foodie destinations sit inside the building: Pizzica for wood-fired pizza and classic Italian comforts, La Scarpetta for artisanal pastas. An evening out needs no car and no booking elsewhere. The main street, the river and the Wooditjup National Park trails are each a short walk away.