Stillwater and Stillwater Seven
When Kim Seagram opened Stillwater
in 2000, she set out to “capture
northern Tasmania on a plate”. Nearly
20 years later the entrepreneur and
her business partners have extended
the same brief for travellers, carving
out space in the historic riverfront mill
for a boutique hotel full of northern
Tasmanian character.
Like the restaurant downstairs,
the seven rooms of Stillwater Seven are
a showcase of local talent: design by
Cumulus Studio, beds by Hobart-based
AH Beard, woollen throws by Waverley
Mills, bathroom products by Lentara
Grove, and walls hung with works by
local artists. The showpiece curved
bar-pantry in each room is made by
Launceston craftsman Simon Ancher
from Tasmanian blackwood and filled
with produce from a roll-call of star
regional producers: Coal River Farm
cheeses, Tasmanian Butter Co butter,
sourdough and pre-mixed cocktails by
Stillwater, Hazelbrae hazelnuts, and
small-batch Tamar Valley wines. River
views and massive old beams dominate
rooms, with mosaic-tiled bathrooms
and the clever use of rough, blackened
timber, a nod to the fire that destroyed
the mill’s roof in 1942.
The focus downstairs in the
chic-rustic dining room of Stillwater
remains resolutely seasonal and local,
the likes of Cape Grim beef tartare,
Moulting Bay oysters, local smoked-eel
croquettes, Bass Strait abalone with
smoked oyster cream and Mount
Gnomon pork belly for dinner. At
breakfast, there’s rye hot cakes with
cold-smoked Huon salmon, kimchi
and pulled-pork omelette, and a
door-stopping Reuben of local wagyu
and sauerkraut. Stillwater and Stillwater
Seven, 2 Bridge Rd, Launceston,
stillwater.com.au
Outside Stillwater. Opposite: Fresh
produce at the Harvest Launceston
Community Farmers’ Market.