Take one hot bath, mix in some exotic oils. Soak for 20 minutes. Add icy cold sparkling wine on the side, perhaps a massage and then finish with a superb meal, some more fine wine and a promise of great shopping - that's my recipe for the perfect weekend or day away. If it's also yours, you should head for Daylesford, 80 minutes drive from Melbourne.
Hepburn Spa has been spruiking the benefits of the local mineral water since 1894. They say that the sulphate purifies your liver; that the calcium is good for your bones; the bicarbonate balances the PH in your bloodstream; the magnesium is good for your kidneys; the silica will help strengthen your bones; the sodium helps prevent stomach disorders; the iron will help carry oxygen to your brain and that your mind and muscles will thank you for the potassium. Of course, the best way to get all this goodness is to drink it - bring lots of empty water containers with you and fill them up at one of the many roadside springs. It's plentiful and free but personally, I'd rather soak in it.
Hepburn Spa Resort has a huge range of spa and massage treatments - anything from a dip in the public pool to luxury full-day indulgence packages. Best value if you just want to absorb some of those minerals through the skin is a 20-minute, $30 private Aerospa bath with an overwhelming choice of essential oils, mud, milk, foam, homeopathic preparations or herbal tea additives thrown in.
But one can not live on hot baths alone. There are plenty of other things to see and do around the area. Daylesford is a shopper's paradise. The main street is lined with restaurants and eateries, cluttered antique shops, cavernous book stores, eclectic artist's studios and modern art galleries. One not to miss is the Convent Gallery, housed in the beautifully restored 1860s Holy Cross Convent. There are three levels and seven galleries. Room after room of sculpture, jewellery, ceramics and fine art leads you to a very good restaurant and bar. Walk off lunch in the gardens.
If you need a break from the shopping Lavendula Lavender Farm, 10 minutes from town in the hills and farmland of Shepherd's Flat is a nice place to sit and smell the roses, or in this case lavender. Here you can wander through fields of lavender, visit the still room where the essential oil is distilled or explore the extensive gardens. At the centre of the property is a shady, vine-covered courtyard, reminiscent of the early settlers native Italy, where you can order a light lunch or snack from La Trattoria. Try the lavender lemonade, great on a hot day, or the lavender scones. Other choices are the less floral risottos, minestrone, polentas, cheeses and the local speciality, bullboar sausages.
There are plenty of places to stay in and around Daylesford, which is overflowing with B&Bs and guesthouses to suit all budgets. Our home for the night was Lake House, built right on the shores of Lake Daylesford. This is the reason many people come to Daylesford, to stay in one of the luxurious lakefront cottages and spend the evening in highly-awarded Lake House Restaurant. We tend to stay away from restaurants that paper their walls with awards, but in this case, the food lives up to the hype.
Almost everything on the menu, from pastries, bread, preserves, smoked goods and chocolates, is made on the premises, with a focus on the fresh regional produce. The open kitchen door policy means that many of the dishes on the daily menu are derived from 'windfalls' of local suppliers and farmers. The walk-in wine cellar's not bad either - more than 700 bottles from around the world and local boutique wineries - earning accolades from New York's Wine Spectator as one of the world's most notable wine lists.
Lake House is the creation of Austrian-born Alla Wolf-Tasker, a powerhouse of a woman who seems to never stop working. Alla, and painter husband Allan, whose colourful art works covers the walls in the guest rooms and restaurant, built the hotel in 1984. From small beginnings, commuting up each weekend from Melbourne to open the restaurant on weekends, to the addition of a few rooms for those diners that didn¡¦t feel like driving home, Lake House is now well and truly on the gourmet map.
After a dinner of fresh seasonal salad (asparagus, shaved fresh artichokes, rocket leaves and parmesan), ravioli of rabbit with a mousseline and prosciutto wrapping served with spring vegetables and a shared plate of six small portions of desserts plus an orange and campari granita to finish, we staggered back to our rooms to watch the moon rise over the lake.
Next day, in a desperate attempt to undo some of the previous nights excesses we took a sunrise walk around the lake before heading back on the one-hour drive to Melbourne.
Daylesford is 80 minutes drive from Melbourne. To get there, take the Calder Highway from the city to Woodend or Kyneton and head east to Daylesford from there.
Hepburn Spa Resort
Mineral Springs Reserve, Hepburn Springs. All year.
Lake House
Accommodation and restaurant. King Street, Daylesford.
Phone: (03) 5348 3329 All year
Lavendula Lavender Farm
Shepherd's Flat, 10 minutes from Daylesford. Open daily, 10.30am to
5.30pm, but weekends-only in winter (June - September). School holidays 10.30am to 5.30pm daily.
Convent Gallery Art gallery and Restaurant
7 Daly St, Daylesford. Open daily 10am - 6pm
Daylesford Visitor Centre
Phone: (03) 5348 1339.
January 10C to 27C
July -1C to 10C
The Daylesford area generally has a mild climate, though it can get quite cold in winter, which is also the wettest season.
4WD
