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If the visitors' book is anything to go by, Strawberry Patch Cottage in Leura is a great place to get engaged. At least three people say they proposed (and were accepted) there. Others went for their honeymoon, their second honeymoon, their 20th wedding anniversary, their we're-back-together-after-a-separation holiday, their retreat before a first baby, or their rest after the baby's arrival.
Romance is definitely the theme. I think I may be the first person ever to go there with my brother one night and a good (female) friend the next.
It's immediately obvious why Strawberry Patch is so popular with lovers.  When you open the door of the small, turn-of-the-century cottage, the first thing you smell, in cooler weather, is the wood burning in the Jotul fire. Then you hear Enya on the CD (OK, so maybe that doesn't induce ardour in everyone). But the masterstroke is the queensized, four-poster, mahogany bed, complete with gold damask linen and fleur-de-lis drapes. It floats in the middle of the small front bedroom like a luxury liner on the sea.
As you lean back on the big, fluffy pillows, the view is of the hand-painted Trompe L'oeil ceiling, showing white clouds wafting across a blue sky. Â As the website says, "drift toward your dreams".
The cottage has two bedrooms, a lounge, separate dining and a patio, and can comfortably sleep two couples. The good thing, however, is that when there are only two of you it doesn't feel as if you're rattling around.
The biggest attraction for lovers is the spa in the huge, chequerboard bathroom. Owner Beris Anderson provides candles, and just about anything else her guests could possibly need: candle holders, spare candles, underfloor heating, overhead heating, fluffy towels, spotlights, dimmer switches, bath salts, more spare candles, more bath salts, and a system that lets you pipe music into the bathroom (although we couldn't figure out that one).
Her attention to detail distinguishes Strawberry Patch from other holiday cottages: you can just feel how much Beris loves the place. Though I shouldn't call her Beris. I've never met her - the policy is not to disturb anyone during their stay. "I figure if you want company, you stay at a B&B," she says, sensibly, over the phone - but after 48 hours in her cottage I felt I knew her well.
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Her personality is there in everything from the stencilling along the loungeroom walls to the painted marble effect in the bathroom. It's also there in the delicious homemade bread she left us and in the myriad other amenities that improved ourstay: the pots of butter, jam and marmalade to go with the bread, the biscotti, the three varieties of tea (and the three different ways to prepare it - bags, pot and a kind of jangling ball), the choice of two cereals, the umbrella, the iron and ironing board, the washing machine and clothes stand, videos, books, games and fresh flowers in many of the rooms. We felt throughout as if some benevolent, invisible entity was looking after us from afar.
The visitors' book confirms that some people become so comfortable here that they don't go out at all. But they probably weren't there with their brothers. And they probably didn't have a brand new Mini Cooper S parked out the front. We had a loan of the car through the machinations of a friend of a friend and, boy, was it fun to drive. I don't know anything about cars. As we stopped at traffic lights, someone yelled out, "Is that thing supercharged?" and I thought, "I don't know - but it's got six gears!"  But, as they say, I know what I like, and I like being able to zip around in comfort while looking very cool. On the streets of Katoomba, people stopped to shout: "Wow, great car!" We just suavely arched an eyebrow and roared off.
Fortunately, there are plenty of places worth driving to in the Blue Mountains. We dined fabulously, at Vulcans in Blackheath one night and at Solitary in Katoomba the next. Both restaurants are accessed by some excellent winding roads.
During the day, we tore along the same roads to see the Three Sisters.  We even got out of the car for a while to join the herd of tourists heading to the valley floor on the scenic railway. We had a pleasant tramp around the big, beautiful trees before rejoining the crowds to come up in the Sceniscender cable car.
Then we got back in the car. Most of the time we managed to negotiate who would do the driving with a minimum of fisticuffs - though there were some close calls. But sitting in the passenger seat, just taking in the surroundings, also proved to be fun, and not driving meant freedom to have that extra gin and tonic at the fabulous Hydro Majestic Hotel cocktail bar. As well as that extra scotch at the marvellous, recently renovated Carrington Hotel cocktail bar in Katoomba.
As I was driven back to our lovely little cottage, I felt very cool indeed.
RATING: 18/20
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