Many visitors to Railway Café and Tracks Bar will be familiar with co-owner Jane Bond’s warm welcome.

“I’m usually the one behind the bar making coffees,” Jane said. “But what I really love about being here is meeting the customers and getting to know them.”

For the past seven years, the Bond family – Jane, husband Lloyd and mother-in-law Kate – have welcomed visitors and regulars to their café at the iconic Maryborough Railway Station.

While the historical significance of the 19^th century building might be daunting for some, for the Bonds it was one of the reasons they moved from Melbourne to start a business in central Victoria.

“That was part of the draw for us, it’s not just a café in the high street.” Jane said.

“We could have opened a café in Melbourne if we wanted to, but being such a major tourist hotspot and iconic building, the thought of doing something different and special really appealed to us.”

Unlike Kate and Lloyd, who lived in Maryborough before moving to the city, Jane found the move to a country town something of a culture shock.

“I grew up in Dandenong and was living in Melbourne when I met Lloyd,” Jane said.

“When I first moved here, I wasn’t so sure, it was such a big adjustment. But now I don’t think I could go back to the city. I love the laid-back lifestyle; I don’t miss traffic and the crowded shopping centres.

“We always said when we had children, we wanted them to have a county life like Lloyd did growing up. He has such great memories of the bush and going yabbying, building huts and all the stuff that he wants to do with Jo (the couples’ young son).

“It’s definitely a nicer environment to raise a family.”