The Merribee

The Merribee is a boutique garden property at 660 Comerong Island Road, Numbaa, set among manicured English-style gardens a short drive from Shoalhaven Heads and the Jervis Bay coast. It is best known for garden weddings, but the accommodation villas also take standard bookings, and dogs are possible under one specific arrangement.

Dogs at the Merribee

The venue keeps designated pet friendly rooms, and its accommodation terms set out the deal plainly: chat to the team to see whether one is available for your dates before you book, expect a $100 pet fee per room per stay, and note that bringing a pet into a room without prior notification triggers a $250 fee. So approval is the first step, not the booking. The FAQ is stricter for wedding parties: the villas used in wedding packages are not pet friendly, dogs attending a wedding are welcome at outdoor parts of the day but stay on leash, are never allowed inside the accommodation, and the venue points couples toward local pet-sitters such as Wedding Paws for overnight care.

Worth knowing

The grounds are the reason to stay: formal gardens, lavender rows, topiary and a rose garden, all with dogs on lead and under control. The property is a working venue that hosts weddings and events on weekends, so a garden tour or a client walkthrough can pass through during your stay, though the team commits to not inspecting the inside of occupied rooms. Check-in runs from 3pm and checkout is 10am, rooms are not cleaned mid-stay, and the property enforces strict noise rules given its residential neighbours. No smoking applies across the property, and each room gets one allocated car space. Midweek stays outside wedding season are the calmest window for a quiet visit with a dog.

While you're out there

The Shoalhaven Heads off-leash dog park is the closest off-lead run, with the Nowra fenced dog park as a further inland backup. For a meal out, Hedy's Bistro and Bangalay Dining both sit in Shoalhaven Heads village.