Sunshine Coast Hinterland Times

SERENDIPITY surprised jam-maker, Faye Thompson, (pictured) when she set up her stall in the hall for Montville Village Association’s recent market. When she arranged her products, she looked up and saw that she had selected a place beside an historical photograph of special significance to her.

The photograph was of Elston Guesthouse, of 1906-1940, operated by Faye’s grandmother, Mary Jane Thompson, nee Unwin.

Serendipity may have helped Faye choose the name Elston Cottage for her business name, because the Montville district has always had an irresistible lure for Brisbane-born Faye.

In 2006, she purchased a property at Maleny, which just happens to be 100 years after her grandmother bought Elston Guesthouse.

“I don’t really know why I bought a property at Maleny. This district just draws me to it,” she said.

“Grandmother Thompson was a very good cook apparently,” Faye said. “My mother was very good at making marmalade, and my father particularly liked cumquat and grapefruit jam.

“The guesthouse was a very prominent building in the community and a well-known holiday resort. Female teachers stayed there because it was a ‘respectable’ place for young ladies. The guesthouse was alcohol free, not a hotel,” Faye said.

The Methodist Church meetings were held in the guesthouse, prior to the construction of its own church, which was coincidently built by Frederick Winstanley Thompson, Faye’s grandfather, who also built Elston Guesthouse.