Brian and Tina Davis ran Heronswood House bed and breakfast in Moss Vale for more than two decades.
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After 23 years they have hung up their hats, sold the property and made a plan to have a good retirement.
The couple purchased the 1880s property in 1996 specifically to start a bed and breakfast.
The business opened six months later, on the weekend of Brigadoon, and operated until two weeks ago.
Originally from the United Kingdom, Brian and Tina weren't always in the hospitality business.
Brian worked as a mechanical engineer and when he first heard his wife's idea to start a bed and breakfast he wasn't convinced.
"I don't know how to talk to people, I talk to machines," he said at the time.
Nevertheless, the couple uprooted their life and dove headfirst into their new venture.
"We weren't sure we could do it and here we are 23 years later," Brian said.
For the next two decades Brian and Tina dedicated their lives to looking after others.
Their days consisted of 6am starts to prepare and serve breakfast.
After this they prepared for the next round of guests, before finally getting to sleep at around midnight.
"It's a full-time 24/7 job," Tina said.
Despite hard work, aching knees and endless washing the couple enjoyed the life they created together.
"It's very satisfying which is why we just kept going," Tina said.
"You meet thousands of people from all over the world, all walks of life."
Brian and Tina said one of the highlights was hosting two people who had lived in the historic house.
A man who lived there as a little boy in the 1930s remembered climbing up the side of a well to get on his pony to ride to school every morning.
They were also visited by a nurse who had lived in the house with her aunt in the 1950s.
"We know that little bit about people who have been here before which is nice," Tina said.
The couple said they had looked after all sorts of people from radio hosts and entertainers to truck drivers and young families.
Brian used to stay up with the guests chatting and drinking port until the early hours of the morning.
He said people had changed over the years from guests who socialised together to guests who kept to their rooms.
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Attitudes weren't the only thing to change over the years.
The internet caused tremendous disruption to the whole industry.
Brian said people went from looking for accommodation in a phone book to surfing the internet.
"We don't get phone calls anymore, it's all online," he said.
Heronswood House was one of the last traditional bed and breakfasts in the region.
The couple said Airbnb and other types of self-contained accommodation were more popular now.
While the bed and breakfast has closed its doors, Brian and Tina will take decades of happy memories with them into retirement.
"We've had the tired part, it's time for the retired part," Brian said.
Tina said she didn't want to make another bed ever again.
The couple will hold an estate sale on November 30 from 8:30am at 165 Argyle Street, Moss Vale.
