A warm welcome: the O'Toole family are part of the furniture at Broke in the Hunter Valley

They moved to Broke 30 years ago and never left. It's where they raised their four children and now operate three family-run businesses, as well as Paul's recycled timber projects and antiques.

"We actually had one of the first businesses in Broke, an antique shop, before there was even accommodation out here," Melissa says.

"We've got our fingers in a few pies now: Red Tractor Retreat, Motty's Farm Cuisine, and now Magoony's Coffee House.

"An opportunity came up to rent and renovate the old service station on Singleton Street in Broke that had been sitting vacant for many years, and we spent many months and lots of money renovating the kitchen and main building."

They purchased the property last July.

It's the home of Magoony's Coffee House, run by their son Ryan, and out the back is a selection of Paul's antiques and recycled timber pieces. You can have a browse while waiting for your coffee. His craftmanship can also be appreciated at Brokenwood Wines and other cellar doors and restaurants around Pokolbin.

One of Paul's signature pieces is a handcrafted cheeseboard made from recycled French wine barrels, which he calls The Barrelboard. Many of his projects have found a home at Magoony's, including a six-metre-long timber table.

Both Melissa and Paul were raised in hospitality families: Paul's parents owned Grumpy's, a restaurant on the Central Coast, while Melissa's parents owned The Catherine Hill Bay Hotel and the Royal Inn at Waratah.

Paul teaches English and History at St Catherine's Catholic College in Singleton three days a week, where the O'Toole children studied after moving on from Broke Public School, and helps Melissa with her catering business which is named after her acronym: M.O.T.

All of the O'Toole children have worked at Broke's Margan Restaurant at some point in their lives, with Ryan completing a pastry chef apprenticeship there.

Motty's Farm Cuisine is Melissa's baby.

"It was born 16 years ago and is going stronger than ever because there is so much accommodation in the Valley," she says. "Many people are these days opting to have a nice dinner or lunch in the luxury of the house they are staying in."

Motty's is all about home-style, fresh and hearty meals, made with love.

"We have a huge veggie patch and anything we don't grow we try to source locally," Melissa says. "Basically we come to your accommodation and cook, serve and clean up."

Melissa started the catering business at the insistence of Sydney businesswoman, property owner and accommodation provider Sue Gleave.

"She owned a few houses in Broke 20 years ago and she said to me 'Mel, we need a caterer in Broke'. There was nothing around back then. I said 'Nah, Sue, I was a waitress at my parents' pubs and clubs, not a chef'.

"A year later she asked me again. I got myself organised and said to Paul 'If I get one booking a month I'll be happy', and now I have to turn people away. I'll sometimes do five catering jobs a week."

Today there are several caterers in the Hunter Valley, including Monkey Place Catering and Hunter Valley Catering.

"We spin off one another. They do the big ones and I stick to the smaller groups," Melissa says, adding that she does "a lot of pre-wedding dinners and brunches for brides" as well as wine lunches and dinners.

Tickets to a Motty's Farm Cuisine pop-up dinner at Magoony's in October have already sold out.

"I am not a chef and don't pretend to be. I say to people 'I'm not a chef, I'm a Maggie Beer, I'm a cook and I grow all my own produce'," Melissa says.

"I provide good value, hearty meals, not dips and dots on plates."

Catering packages include: the three-course meal and full wait service; the BBQ banquet; and the self-service meals (delivered to your accommodation ready to heat/serve). Melissa's menu is full of feel-good, comfort food. Familiar dishes done well.

And while the OToole children have helped with the family-run business over the years, these days the responsibility is Paul's.

"I do all the prep, load the car, unpack the car, Paul entertains the guests and cooks the meat and helps me clean up, then we load the car again and off we go."

The O'Toole's family home of 22 years is now Red Tractor Retreat on Wollombi Street at Broke. It's a rustic-style, pet-friendly property "with all the mod cons" that sleeps up to 12 people.

There's a three-bedroom cottage as well as two individual rooms for those wanting privacy. There's also a pool which Melissa says is popular with families.

"We have an old slab-built outhouse out the back which has a bath, a toilet and a shower. You can have a bath with the door open, looking at Yellow Rock if you like. It's kinda quirky and reasonably priced," she says.

"Most of our guests bring their dogs - they're allowed in the house.

"Sometimes I'll leave a pot of soup or a casserole or a barbecue pack for guests when they arrive so they don't have to go anywhere if they don't want to.

"We always leave full breakfast provisions for our guests - our own fresh eggs, bacon, juice, milk. We have all the facilities here, including a full chef's kitchen. I basically moved out of the house and left everything in it [laughs]."

She recalls the night in July 2022 when dangerous flood waters isolated residents of the Broke Fordwich region, causing damage to properties, disrupting infrastructure and resulting in significant economic loss.

"The water was a metre over the pool, lapping the house," she says. "It went through the retreat at the back of the house, through the sheds, and caused about a 100-grand worth of damage.

"We had guests in the house, a group of ladies who had just unpacked their kids and dogs, and they were enjoying a wine and were not in a rush to leave.

"We were staying at Monkey Place and were about to go into town to grab food and wine when the SES came knocking and where like 'You've gotta go'. The creek was up by 15 metres out the back.

"We told our guests they had to leave and they jumped in their car and headed to Singleton, and five minutes later the road washed away behind them and the power lines went down.

"We were lucky and got back on our feet pretty quickly, but a lot of people weren't in their homes so we waited until September to re-open because it was the right thing to do."

The flood was devastating, she says, but a silver lining was the sense of community it left in its wake. Residents would meet at the community hall for coffee, breakfast, lunch and regular updates from the SES and other authorities.

"I met people I'd never seen before but they'd lived here 20 years. The community came together."

Buoyed by this newfound community spirit, Paul and Melissa decided to open a coffee house on Singleton Street and pitched the idea to Ryan.

He lived and worked in Melbourne for a time and had recently returned to Newcastle where he worked at Bocados Spanish Kitchen and at Baba Yaga on Darby Street.

Ryan wasn't too keen on this parents' offer at first, telling Melissa he'd prefer to open his own cafe in Cooks Hill.

"I laughed and told him to keep dreaming, the rent would not be cheap," she says.

"I also told him a coffee house was something Broke had really been lacking in recent years, somewhere where the community could meet, sit and enjoy, and Bonnie's old servo was the place to do it."

She eventually twisted Ryan's arm and he hit the ground running, crafting a menu and sourcing an extravagant coffee machine from Italy. Magoony's brew is from Suspension Coffee in Newcastle.

Ryan makes all of his cakes on site, including cheesecakes, chocolate mud cake, carrot cake, lemon meringue and tiramisu, and is in charge of the coffee. Word of mouth is bringing more and more people to the quirky and character-filled coffee house where, on any given day, you are likely to find Paul and Melissa chatting to customers and clearing tables.

Also on the menu is an impressive reuben sandwich, a selection of paninis, salmon bagels, pies, sausage rolls, pastries, croissants, and bread freshly baked on site. The fridge is full of Binnorie cheeses, Mr Charcuterie bacon, sliced meats, bacon, fresh eggs and Melissa's own homemade take-home meals.

"I do all the pre-made meals - chilli garlic prawns, spaghetti, pumpkin soup, butter chicken, penne pasta - and they're starting to take off now," she says.

"We cater for people who are staying in accommodation down the road and need supplies.

"Now the locals are stopping by to grab a butter chicken for 11 bucks on the way home, too."

She is proud of what Ryan has achieved in the year since Magoony's opened.

"He's killing it. He's doing so well. He is a very talented pastry chef and an amazing barista and he won't let me on his coffee machine. You have to be the bomb to get access to that.

"Paul and I float around and help out where we can, you know, that extra niceness that you learn coming from a hospitality background.

"Since the floods Magoony's has been the hub of the community with people of all walks of life meeting, catching up with friends and neighbours, parents meeting after dropping kids to school, business meetings and workers grabbing a coffee and takeaway lunch.

"We've been blown away by the support of Broke locals.

"The Margans, the lawyer down the road, Whispering Brook, the Taggarts who have lived here forever ... they all come in to Magoony's.

"It's somewhere for the locals to meet at last."