Honey is sweet as

The Barooga Hotel publicans have shared parenthood, grand-parenting and are the main characters in a decades long love story that spans from West Wyalong in NSW to York in the United Kingdom.

They have a lot of love to give and young Honey is more than happy to lap it up at home or at the hotel.

Honey can be found visiting her dad or uncle Rocky, the hotel manager, during opening hours. By all accounts, if Honey is being doted on, she’s a happy, wiggling chocolate pooch.

“When we first got Honey, we had a big cage with a beautiful kennel inside it. She has not set one paw inside that kennel,” Liz said.

“She dug straight out and has been living inside ever since.”

Steve and Liz have called Barooga home since October 2020 and endured nine COVID-19 lockdowns in that time.

Honey could be considered a therapy dog for the pair who bought a pub within a border bubble during a global pandemic.

However, the Ratcliffs are not new to running pubs or loving dogs.

“Steve’s family owned the Globe Hotel in West Wyalong back in the 1970s. That’s where we met,” Liz said.

“As luck would have it, my brother left England to play rugby league in Australia and ended up playing in West Wyalong of all places.”

In the years that followed they have owned and loved a long list of canines and thought their days of being dog owners were behind them.

“When we put down our beautiful golden retriever Sam, he was 18, and it broke our hearts,” Liz said.

“We both swore we’d never get another dog. But that changed one day at the pub. I had a few wines with the ladies and then I bought Honey.”

This pup may be at home at the local watering hole, but according to Liz, she’s a much bigger fan of letting loose along the sandy beaches of Barooga and quenching her thirst in the Murray River.

Words and pictures: Carly Marriott