Reproduced from

Hunter Valley - R. Ian Lloyd

At Rothbury, on the northern edge of the Pokolbin district, Paula Rengger operates the Hunter Country Lodge and Shakey Tables Restaurant with her husband Simon. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Paula trained as a jeweller and silversmith at the Edinburgh College of Art before migrating to Australia.

“We were looking for an opportunity,” explains Paula. "This was advertised, and to be honest, it didn't look too attractive. It was horrible.” However, several years down the track, Simon and Paula have transformed what was, “a laminex-tabled, pink-chaired, fluffy-carpeted establishment,” into a classy and unique resort with a reputation as one of the more progressive of the Valley’s restaurants. The walls are hung with her paintings, but Paula also expresses her creative energy through her menu, using ingredients that she calls "a bit on the edge". She also likes to "break a few rules”, and admits that “because of my art school background, I often work with the visual concept of how I want something to look.”

The vision Paula and Simon have is to provide dining and accommodation arrangements around the wine experience. For Simon, this means providing a unique wine list of wines made from fruit grown only in the Hunter. Looking back, Paula recalls: “We didn’t know an awful lot about the Hunter. We’re only realizing now how lucky we are having made such a good decision. It's a really great community to be involved in.”