A schoolhouse in Styria, six rooms, and a dachshund named Frank
Where the dog isn't tolerated: it's expected.
At The Old School, the first to greet you is Frank, a rescued dachshund who does the honors with real conviction: he comes to meet you, walks you in, keeps an eye on things. They take one dog at a time — something Frank, clearly, doesn't mind.
We arrived with Lapo. The two of them had each other figured out in about four seconds.
A schoolhouse turned guest house
The Old School was, quite literally, the village school. Petra and Oliver bought it, restored it, and turned it into a six-room guest house in the heart of Styria — the part of Austria made of hills, vineyards, and views that are in no particular hurry. There's wine, there's a slower pace, and in the evening the landscape turns openly romantic without asking permission.
The building has kept the calm proportions of places once built to be useful. It still is, in a different way.
Petra and Oliver
Petra is Styrian, Oliver is English. They run the house with a calm you shouldn't mistake for nonchalance: there's authority in everything, from breakfast to the fold of a towel, and no stiffness. They give the impression of two people who thought long and hard about how they wanted to live, and then simply did it. The Old School is that thought, turned into six rooms.
The English fittings in the bathrooms, come to think of it, are no accident.
The kitchen is the heart of the house
And it is, literally: the big kitchen is the room where things happen. Oliver spent years working at a three-Michelin-star restaurant in Vienna; these days he cooks less, but with the same seriousness. Breakfast is three courses, different every morning — the kind of detail that, on its own, explains all the rest.
Two nights a week, Wednesday and Saturday, the kitchen doubles as a dining room: a dinner he cooks himself and serves right where it was made, at the big table, with the other guests. Worth timing your stay around one of them.
The rooms
The six rooms are furnished with restraint: quiet colors, elegant bathrooms, English fittings, details you notice without their raising their voice. We chose the attic room, with the tub set facing the window. From the tub, you can see the cows — which brings us to the next point.
Outside the window
Next to the guest house there's a farm. From the windows and the garden you watch the cows come and go from the barn on their own, with the walk of animals that know the way, off to pasture and back. As clocks go, more reliable than most.
The garden has a pool, for those who want to relax, and all around are the woods, for those who can't. The walks are easy, short legs included, and roe deer are all but guaranteed. It's the kind of trail where a good harness and a long line earn their keep. Lapo found this very interesting. The roe deer, less so.
The one-dog rule
Frank and Lapo played themselves to exhaustion, which is exactly what you hope for when two dachshunds meet. Taking one dog at a time is a deliberate choice: no competition, no tension, a single four-legged guest treated as such. Pet-friendly in the full sense of the word — not a dog put up with, but a dog expected, starting with whoever opens the door.
The Old School is one of those places you weren't looking for and then find hard to leave. We'll be back. Frank, most likely, already knows.
Good to know.
The Old School — Styria, Austria. Six rooms, garden with pool, woods all around.One dog at a time. Breakfast is three courses, different every morning.Dinner in-house two nights a week, Wednesday and Saturday, at the big table.
