For the next 4 days we immersed ourselves in the towns and villages of Central Victoria. Heading to Daylesford where we are to spend the next four nights.
Our travel day provided an opportunity to stop – firstly at the cute little town of Lancefield. Obviously, our lucky day as the monthly market was spread out down the grass verge in the middle of the main street. It was delightful – full of locals with baskets overflowing with vegetables, children getting their faces painted and a huge assortment of produce on offer that I hadn’t seen at a market before like; Live chickens and ducks, bales of hay, wild local mushrooms, along with the usual fresh local vegetables and fruit, cheese, meat, eggs and flowers.
30 minutes on is the larger town of Kyneton. The antique shops, gift shops and clothing stores are famous here, along with the Piper St deli – where Philip and I did some shopping for a picnic to come. But, the real reason I wanted to bring my group here was the eclectic Botanik Bar at the old Royal George Hotel. They specialise in Vermouth and Amaro and have a very impressive collection. It seemed appropriate today to include a cocktail for lunch that was accompanied by a simple platter lunch of great bread, cheese, charcuterie, pates and olives.
Belinzona hotel is 5 minutes out of Daylesford – an old wooden hotel transformed into a stylish hotel for today. Pre – dinner drinks in large comfortable leather chairs proved a perfect spot to sit and chat about our day and the new interesting countryside we have been driving through.
It’s a long weekend and Daylesford is heaving with visitors and day trippers from Melbourne. The traffic was backed up in every direction – especially to the local market. Time for a walk, a shop or sit in a café and watch the crowds.
At 4pm we had an opportunity to visit an historical local landmark owned by a friend of my brother in-laws family. In 1988 Tina Banitska bought a derelict Convent in Daylesford and over the next few years she single handedly transformed a dream into reality and now proudly has an award winning art gallery, café, bar, wedding venue, historical tours, accommodation, plus a beautiful garden to walk around.
We felt privileged to be invited after 4 when all the hoards had left and after such a busy busy day, Tina shared her life story – starting as a little girl from a poor Greek Immigrant family to the despair and tenacious hard work she has put in to create one of Victoria’s iconic attractions. A special visit hosted by a very special lady.
