The couple moved to Istanbul, Turkey, in October 2019 following a six-year stint running the popular Crowded House Cafe.

Prior to their move they took over a hotel in the Turkish megacity, which since their arrival has undergone extensive renovations.

Aptly, they have named the accomodation the Hunter Valley Guesthouse in order to promote the region they feel a strong connection to as well as draw attention from tourists back home.

"We wanted something that would relate back to Australia, we ran through some stud names and other ideas and Hunter Valley just seemed to fit better," Emmy explained.

"We liked the ring to it. It has drawn a couple of people from Newcastle so that was really nice."

They also run popular Istanbul restaurant Shadow Kitchen and Bar, which has received glowing reviews and holds a 5-star rating on Tripadvisor.

Despite being well established prior to their move, Emmy admitted it is also taking a hit due to the spread of COVID-19, with their restaurant closing its doors for one month.

Turkey is among the nations with the highest rate of increase in coronavirus cases and the Turkish government has urged all residents to stay at home.

Travel bans have also forced a slower trade at their guesthouse which was just getting on its feet.

"The guesthouse has started off a bit slow as there is a lot of accommodation around in the area," Emmy said.

"We had just started getting a lot of reservations and really started getting somewhere until coronavirus turned up.

"A lot of restaurants, bars and clubs are shutting for a while.

"All existing reservations have cancelled or changed dates to later in the year."

Emmy, who was born in Scone, met her Turkish husband Metin in Istanbul.

Exposing their children to the Turkish culture and being closer to Metin's family was a big motivator to move back.

"Metin is from Turkey and we really wanted the kids to know the family and learn Turkish fluently," she said.

The family have now settled in, but admit it took a little while.

"We went from tiny Scone to one of the biggest over populated cities," Emmy said.

"We are crammed in amongst 16 million other people, but it is actually a lot higher population as a lot of people don't have correct papers.

"The kids took a while, we went from our own private backyard to a shared community park."

Istanbul has also been forced to close schools and universities, but over the past couple of months the children have been able to get some learning in to make the transition easier.

"Our older three all attend school five days a week, and we have our youngest at home," Emmy said.

"Attending school has really helped them pick up the language very fast."