Review | Bendigo's Hotel Ernest

The oldest bank building in the historic goldrush city, the centrally-located former Commercial Bank of Sydney built in 1863, has been given a new lease on life and transformed into a beautifully crafted boutique hotel with just 10 individually styled guest suites and rooms.

The people behind the building's transformation into the Hotel Ernest are owners Martin Shew and David Cook-Doulton who have long had a passion for restoring grand heritage buildings, having previously worked on Ballarat's acclaimed Lascelles Terraces and Lyon House.

The partners' vision was to provide luxury accommodation in heritage buildings at the bookends of the Victorian Goldfields region - Bendigo and Ballarat.

Hotel Ernest in Bendigo and the soon-to-be-opened Hotel Vera in Ballarat are named after Cook-Doulton's maternal grandparents to honour the qualities the couple showed throughout their long marriage - connection, warmth and beauty.

I am staying in the Patrick Henigan Suite which has three windows overlooking leafy View Street, Pall Mall, and the iconic Alexandra Fountain. Once part of the bank manager's quarters, the spacious suite, complete with spa bath and marble fireplace fitted with a gas fire, is named after British-born artist Patrick Henigan and features three of his most significant artworks.

Cook-Doulton is an avid collector of modern art and his striking paintings adorn the public areas, the beautiful wooden staircase and the suites. While the building itself retains all of its beautiful Victorian period features, the owners have spurned antique furniture in favour of contemporary and eclectic one-off pieces you won't find anywhere else. The building embraces the change into the 21st century and is all the better for it.

The owners have more plans still. In the coming months a restaurant is to be fashioned out of the guest relaxation area on the ground floor where guests are currently served a delicious continental breakfast of fresh fruits, granola, yoghurt freshly brewed coffee and fresh out of the oven croissants.

This grand room with soaring ceiling is where the gold miners would bring their gold for safe-keeping and one of its windows still has a bullet hole from what is believed to have been an attempted bank robbery in the goldrush days. Leading off this room is the vaults which are now furnished, like the larger room, with comfortable chairs and armfuls of architecture, art and design books.

Bendigo struck gold again recently when it was named Top Tourism Town in Victoria. This year Hotel Ernest has added to its riches.

Old doesn't mean old-fashioned. Rooms have a Smart TV with Netflix, free Wi-Fi and a Nespresso Machine. The Accessible Suite located on the hotel's ground floor, has a roll-in shower with seat, lowered basin and support handles.

For just a little extra, the hotel's pet-friendly suite accommodates house-trained dogs that will no doubt find a friend in resident dog Fletcher.

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Sue Preston was a guest of Hotel Ernest