Sounds theatrical, doesn't it?

Rightly so, it turns out, as the feeling inside this Daylesford house is more akin to the heightened reality and artifice of a theatre set than the formula offerings of a holiday rental.

Vintage furniture doyenne Lynda Gardener, an interior decorator and shop owner (Empire Vintage in Albert Park), has transformed what would have once been a dank and pokey worker's cottage into a dramatic, museum-like homage to collectables and mementoes of bygone eras.

Every detail, some as massive as a turn-of-the-century surgical lamp, some as small and fragile as bottles, reflects her distinctive style and predilection for found objects, junk-shop chic and seriously collectable 20th-century industrial furniture.

In the living area are "exhibits" such as antique typewriters - which guests are invited to use to leave messages in the visitors' book - and globes, lampshades, candle holders, cupboards and tables rescued from industrial offices and factories, couches, and faded prints inside chipped frames. It could just as easily double as the backdrop of a photo shoot for a glossy magazine (which the house often is), yet the effect is simultaneously homely and quirky, even if it occasionally veers towards preciousness.

The industrial-style kitchen has a freestanding, 90-centimetre stove, workbench and ample utensils that call out for home-cooked comfort food. As well as a decent supply of bread, eggs, yoghurt, fruit, jam, milk, tea and coffee, which are included in the tariff, bunches of fresh basil and, one assumes, other seasonal herbs tempt the taste buds.

The house has two bedrooms, a library and a set piece of a bathroom, with a claw-foot bath that floats in the middle of a chalk-white room. The effect is dramatic, though less pragmatic than one might have expected when it comes to a quick shower.

Each of the two bedrooms has its own mood. The smaller one could be described as Depression chic, with a double bed pressed against pretty toile wallpaper, a small but disarmingly haunting oil-paint portrait, a hanging lamp, a leather club chair and a severe, dark-timber cupboard.

The larger one has two sets of shuttered windows, lime-washed walls and beautiful red-striped ticking bedlinen.

The library, though, is the piece de resistance. Hand-painted wallpaper runs into a corner of floor-to-ceiling shelves filled mostly with Penguin editions of literary classics (plus a smattering of contemporary thrillers), providing a brilliant trompe l'oeil effect.

Separate from the house, in a converted garage, is a garden studio with its own bathroom. At the back of the property and away from the road, it would be our pick for a return stay given the noise in the main bedrooms from the trucks that use the road far too early in the morning.

There are tables, deckchairs and cushions galore that can be hauled out on to the neat lawn at the back.

Daylesford's weekend cafe culture is as hectic as the lunchtime crush in Sydney's city centre but there's likely to be little inclination to leave the house, especially in the winter months when an open fire in the living room beckons (the house also has central heating).

Cook a meal, read a book, doze on the fat lounge, play a game of noughts and crosses with lovely wooden tiles, explore the various "things" scattered throughout the place. Or marvel at how "junk" destined for the op shop or local tip have been nursed back to life by a canny hoarder with fine eyes.

VISITOR'S BOOK

The White House

Address 58 Albert Street, Daylesford, Victoria.

Bookings Phone 0416 032 111, see www.empirevintage.com.au/thewhitehousedaylesford.

Price Two-night weekend $680 (one couple), $860 (two couples) or $1250 (three couples). Weekday rates from $380 (one night, one couple) to $880 (five nights, one couple). The house is not suitable for children.

Getting there Daylesford is a one-hour drive from Melbourne city centre via the Western Freeway.

Summary An 1850s brick cottage has been given a distinctive makeover by interior decorator and vintage shop owner Lynda Gardener. Filled with quirky furniture and tasteful comforts, it's a holiday house in a class of its own.

Verdict 18/20

The score: 19-20 excellent; 17-18 great; 15-16 good; 13-14 comfortable.

All weekends away are conducted anonymously and paid for by Traveller.