A self indulgent blog post about a purely indulgent weekend.
Less than one and a half hours north west of Melbourne, in the middle of nowhere (or the centre of the universe according to the street sign), you'll discover the quaint and quirky world of Radio Springs Hotel. On a spur of the moment whim in early Autumn, my partner booked a room with a king size bed and a claw foot bath and off we headed for an adventure.
We stopped along the way to meander around The Diggers Garden of St Erth and enjoyed a tasty lunch and Chardonnay in the cafe.
Country Victoria is pretty damn beautiful and I took full appreciation of being chauffeured by exploring the capabilities of the Fuji X-T2 and playing around with slow shutter speeds.
We arrived late afternoon after exploring a bit of nearby Daylesford and entered a magical wonderland of visual delights, with every corner revealing an eclectic mix of part junk shop, part museum and a healthy sense of humour. You really have to discover it for yourself. Once you get past the quirk, the real character and sumptuousness of the place becomes evident.
We wandered through the ramshackle garden (two acres!) with a glass of wine in the late afternoon sun and discovered an ancient cinema with tiered seating and plenty of charm and intrigue. They have movie nights, but not just any ol' movie night. Tue nights is Back Beach Bar Date Night (we're in the country remember) with wood fired pizza and a mystery noir film. Hawaiian shirts not compulsory but definitely encouraged.
On to the evenings proceedings and with a variety of warm and welcoming rooms to dine in, we landed seats right in front of the rock-a-billy entertainment.
The service was good, the food was good, the ambience was good. It was a bloody good night. We drank too much good wine and then wandered back to have a bubble bath.
A lazy start to Sunday and then breakfast in the dining room before driving through more country roads and towns with gorgeous buildings covered in vines before heading back to the big smoke. It wasn't a budget weekend away by any means, but in terms of originality and value, it was a quality weekend away. I highly recommend it if you're looking for an escape to another world.
