GETTING to Narbethong's Black Spur Inn is not for the faint hearted.

The historic pub is perched on the edge of the breathtaking Black Spur, a 15km stretch of road that winds through towering mountain ash, flanked by steep embankments, as it cuts its way through the Great Dividing Range.

Once a favoured stop for thirsty bikers, new owners Dianne and Jim Kennedy gave the pub an overhaul in 2006. It now attracts not only the adventurous, but those interested in good food and wine - and a bit of luxury.

"The night we bought it, it was so dirty I wouldn't get into one of the beds," Dianne said. "We actually camped in one of the rooms."

The former Melbourne couple, who teach four-wheel-driving all over the world, bought the pub, which is surrounded by state forest and dirt trails, to offer quality accommodation to their students who didn't want to rough it.

Licensed since 1883 and rebuilt after the 1930 bushfires, the pub was a former Cobb & Co station, serving goldminers, loggers and the now defunct township of Fernshaw, in the middle of the Black Spur.

"The history has been an added bonus," Dianne said.

"So many people come here and say 'my grandfather used to come up here, yes he stayed here.' "

With Lake Eildon on one side and Healesville and the Yarra Valley on the other, it's a goldmine for recreation, Dianne said.

The Bicentennial National Trail, Australia's longest continuous bush track, and Marysville's Lake Mountain and Stevenson's Falls, all popular tourist attractions, are nearby.

"Some people say, 'you are in the middle of nowhere'. But we are so lucky where we are."

The location proved particularly fortunate on Black Saturday, when flames, which came within 10 metres, sped off in the other direction.

"The only reason we survived was pure luck.

"The wind changed. What was our good fortune, was Marysville's misfortune," Dianne said.

For six weeks the pub became a refuge, housing and feeding 131 people who had lost their homes, almost 70 years to the day since the 1939 fires also made the pub a refuge.

"We were very lucky to have been able to help," Dianne said.

She has urged people to return to the area, to help the community's social and economic recovery.

"There is this feeling among many people that they are being intrusive," she said.

"But the area is open for business and they'd be welcomed with open arms."