First stop... amazing wood fired pizza at Koukla the cafe at Frangos & Frangos Daylesford, Victoria. I can see why it is a local institution, funky but comfortable decor and excellent staff...
Afterwards, as it was getting late we headed off to find our accommodation which was a converted shed on a farming property called Country Gate at Springbank. After going endlessly back and forth along the same stretch of road we concurred that google maps on my phone and the street sign we were looking for were disagreeing! We finally took a guess and found the right one and headed off into the forest to find the place. It was worth it! The owners, Molly and John have done an incredible amount of work to make three of their farms original buildings available for guests to enjoy and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay. We would most certainly go there again. It was incredibly peaceful and well equipped, the kind of place you want to snuggle into. Found it a but hard to leave the wood fire and go and explore actually!! ...
..the rustic "studio" where we spent two nights...
...scrummy wood fire and reclaimed materials...
...gorgeous, covet able English tea set...
...and a dreamy lady keeping an eye on us...
...we stocked up on art supplies at the variety shop and came back to paint in front of the fire...
...patted the resident horses...
...and woke up to find (and eat!) what was left of the nights snow fall!
On Friday it was off to the Chocolate Mill which is 7 minutes from Daylesford at Mount Franklin. The Munchkin was dreaming of a Willy Wonka style factory and despite the lack of Oompa Loompas and eatable (or is that edible) imaginations she was in awe of the viewing window and the fun, easy going owner Chris.
...Chris and Jen built the mill and house from straw bales (details and progress pics here) themselves and it is awe inspiring...
...they also serve the BEST hot chocolate EVER!!...
...The Munchkin couldn't even pick the bowl up...
..."If you can get it off me you can have it!" The Munchkin wrestling Chris for the huge bar of couverture chocolate the mill uses for the base of all their products. They produce between 10-12000 chocolates a week and sell them all on site, no wholesale or anything! No nastys, all fresh, no awful Palm oil! Yummy!
...In the garden was this striking iron Owl, also made by Chris I believe! I tried to convince Mr HMH to drag him home, or one of the emu's or lizards. No such luck...
......from the inside all the gorgeous colours of the wine bottles around this door looked like stained glass, beautiful...
Next stop was the Daylesford Bazaar often spoken of by Alison from Lark and in fact the very day before she had posted this so I was keen to get in and explore. There was so much to see and lots of things were collector prices but I hit the jackpot and came across these four original Sue Adams cards which are the reason Alison started her Daisy Lane range! So excited! Happily out of the 2 packets of Swap cards I picked up in the Lark shop I found two to match my cards! (Please excuse the poor quality pictures btw, dark days and an average camera did not make for good ones unfortunately)
(NOTE: As a lovely coincidence, check out this months Frankie to collect 1 of 4 Daisy Lane posters!!)
...and speaking of all thing Lark we of course visited the gorgeous shop itself and came out with lots of lovely things including the swap cards, one of these and some Christmas presents to pop away for The Munchkin. Alison was there but I got all shy and didn't introduce myself :P ...
... I had to have this bag from Lark since I have given one as a gift but strangely did not have my own! I was very strong and did not walk out with an armful of Paumes or lots of other gorgeous goodies - but that may have just been the fact that Mr HMH was wielding the credit card this holiday he he...
All in all we:
d) ALL OF THE ABOVE
in Daylesford, and would move there in a heartbeat!
Will be back with the remainder of our holiday tomorrow and finally my 100 post giveaway announcement over the weekend. Thanks for your patience!!
Till next time, xxx
I was like "why havent I head of these places in Tas?" until you started talking about Lark. You weren't in Tas at all! Yay for holidays! Glad you're having a fabulous time...
ReplyDeleteI'm very excited for the latest Frankie. Hoping it comes in the mail soon... they stuffed up my subscription when I was on the payment plan so I just repurchased a full year and this will be my first issue so fingers crossed it gets here. It should be here already. Hmph. If my newsagency sold it, I would probably buy 4 copies for all 4 prints - they'r gorgeous!
Enjoy the rest of your trip! Your little one is the cutest little thing xoxox
What a fantastic place to stay!
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I love that chocolate mill. From memory they have a very good chilli hot chocolate that has just the right amount of chilli and sugar and lovely, scrummy goodness.
ReplyDeleteAw, you shouldn't have been shy! Thank you so much for visiting my shop, and I'm so happy you found some of the Sue Adams cards too! xx
ReplyDeletelooks absolutely wonderful!!
ReplyDeletei heart holidays! xo
you make me want to go there
ReplyDeleteLooks like so much fun, especially the chocolate mill. I'd have a terrible time trying to leave :( Can't wait to hear about the rest of your vacation.
ReplyDeleteThe accommodation looks lovely, and we love Frangos and Frangos. I think I first discovered lemon tart there (yes, it was a long time ago!). And Daylesford was the location of my first romantic weekend away with my now hubby. Love that part of the world...
ReplyDeleteOh I am so envious!! A trip to Daylesford to visit the Bazaar and Lark is very high on my wishlist!!! x
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