Changing Face of Murrurundi

Motel with a View – By Des Dugan

DURING the last three months Murrurundi’s business sector has gone through a major shakeup with no less than four players changing hands.

In addition there has been a new resident artist, the award-winning painter and photographer, David Darcy to mention but a few.

The biggest shakeup has been with local general store Dooleys followed by the Royal and the White Hart Hotel and the subject of today’s story, the Valley View Motel.

Sitting at the northern extremity of the village, the Valley View Motel is the first accommodation seen on a southern journey into town and the last leaving.

Preeti and Prabhjot, Jot for short, have been playing around on the edge of the motel business for a few years now doing weekend work for Preeti’s brother who owns a motel in Cessnock.

Jot and Preeti have made Murrurundi home.

This was almost an apprenticeship for their purchase.

Approaching the business with gusto and drive, the couple in a few short weeks have changed the décor of the rooms and are well on the way to reshaping the motel into a vibrant and profitable business.

Already listed on such booking sites as Booking.com, Trivago, Wotif and not to mention Facebook, the motel is already receiving reviews and good write-ups.

In the next few weeks solar panels will be installed on the roof of the motel to compliment their Foxtel facility available in every room.

Jot came to Australia in 2013 via New Zealand from India while his wife Preeti has been in the country for 22 years.

One of the closely-guarded secrets is the mean curries and other Indian food smells coming out of the kitchen.

“We will cook anything. We know some people like hot curries while other like mild and not so spicy food so we adapt our cooking to tastes,” Jot said.

Why did they pick Murrurundi?

“Besides being a beautiful little town, it is close to all major places like Scone, Quirindi and Tamworth but far enough away to be secluded,” Jot said.

“The motel needed a shake-up and the motel is on the highway — most are not, which makes it harder to bring in travellers.

The couple bring a refreshing community attitude to the village.

“We often send people over to the caravan park if we can’t fit them in and they do the same,” Preeti said.

The other point the couple picked up on was the size of the property which lends itself to expansion in the future.

“We are here for a long time, we have no set timeframe for staying in Murrurundi, it is however long they will have us,” Preeti said.

“Our home country is Australia now, India is the tourist country and we are very happy,” Jot said.

“We don’t want to go down to Sydney or Newcastle, we are happy with the fresh air and the politeness of the country,” Jot said.

Oh! By the way, the motel is also now pet friendly.

Blockline: Jot and Preeti in the driveway of the Valley View motel.