A foodstuff and drink tour of Mitchell Shire
The Goulburn Valley location a quick generate north of Melbourne is one of Victoria’s favourite foods baskets, giving develop to marketplaces, dining establishments and kitchens across the state. And a single of the most effective strategies to encounter the historic compact cities and lovely countryside of the Mitchell Shire is to jump in a automobile and and go in lookup of bounty. It’s specifically what the pollies meant very last calendar year when they have been talking about placing an esky in the back again of the motor vehicle.
Here’s our instructed itinerary for spending a weekend in the Goulburn Valley – and coming back laden with meats, fruits, veges, high-quality wine, craft beer and more.
Friday
Go away Melbourne vibrant and early and head up the M2 for an hour and 5 minutes until you get to the historic city of Kilmore, just as drovers and gold prospectors have done in days gone by. Time for a espresso! Get a good just one at the Rose Café Kilmore, a café in a quaint aged home surrounded by rose bushes. Have some freshly baked scones in the yard or opt for from a day by day menu of refreshing cakes. Even though in Kilmore you should end at the Meat Place in which you can obtain tiny-batch salami manufactured listed here in town and search the on-premises deli for extra exceptional finds.
Photograph: Provided
A leisurely fifty percent-hour generate even more north alongside the Northern Highway will consider you to beautiful Tooborac, with its backdrop of the McIvor Ranges. Head to the McIvor Estate cellar doorway, just one of the Heathcote region’s best, for wine and olive oil tasting. If you phone ahead they can arrange lunch for compact groups. Then it is a shorter travel over to McIvor Farm Meals, a loved ones-operate pig farm offering high excellent hams, roasts, cutlets, schnitzels, ribs, sausages – you name it. Buy in advance online and choose them up here.
For dinner, drop into the Tooborac Hotel and Brewery, the 1857 pub famed for Tooborac Beers and Tooby pies, baked day by day. You can get a person of people outstanding pies served in the bistro, or a variety of good pub foods. Keep right away at Mimosa Glen, a beautiful 1880s home exactly where you can reserve a space, a cottage or an whole homestead and wake up in splendour.
Saturday
Get a hearty breakfast at Tooborac General Store, a charming, investing-article design blended company with an adjoining café. If you’re setting up on going fishing in the Goulburn River you can get your deal with here. Oh, and before leaving town you might want to increase some of individuals famed Tooby Pies from Tooborac Hotel and Brewery to the esky.
A half hour push east on the Seymour-Tooborac Highway takes you to a lovely, historic town hugging the financial institutions of the Goulburn River. Seymour’s promises to fame are navy historical past and food items and consume – appear in Oct and Seymour is the scene of the Preferences of the Goulburn Pageant, a celebration of the food and wine of the Goulburn River Valley.
Head into town any time of 12 months for Wine X Sam, a boutique cellar doorway offering wine tasting and gentle bites. Sam Plunkett has been earning award-successful wines for much more than 25 many years – discover out what he’s figured out on a vineyard tour (there are four a working day), which include tastings, and choose up some award-profitable drops.
Yet another vineyard, Somerset Crossing, is your prevent for lunch at the Vineyard Kitchen, an Italian restaurant specialising in pizza and pasta. Wander it off alongside the Goulburn River, or on the Vietnam Veterans Commemorative Walk, a photographic timeline honouring these who served that functions 106 photographic glass panels. It’s the only walk of its type in Australia.
When you are finished discovering Seymour, it’s time to head south for the quick travel to Trawool and the Trawool Estate. Because did we ignore to point out you are spoiling you this weekend? This boutique luxury lodge has 27 not too long ago renovated rooms, quite a few with uninterrupted views of the Trawool Valley. After you check in your supper will be at the on-premises Wild Drinking water Cafe, serving contemporary Australian delicacies with a concentration on farm-to-plate that showcases the very best domestically sourced create. Complete it up with a put up-prandial cocktail in the Granite Bar or the Herb Yard beneath the significant umbrellas, with people amazing sights of the Trawool Valley.
Sunday
Say a hesitant goodbye to Trawool Estate and venture 13 minutes west on the C383 to Tallarook – incidentally the commencing position of the Terrific Victorian Rail Path, one of the good going for walks and using trails of Australia. Time your stop by for the initially Sunday of the thirty day period and you will capture the Tallarook Farmers Marketplace, which is packed with fresh deliver from farmers who live in the Goulburn Valley. Seasonal make contains fruit, veggies, eggs, bread, mushrooms, cheese, pork, beef, lamb, wine, beer, cider, olives, olive oil, pasta, honey, jams, preserves, chocolate, pastries and cakes.
The moment you’re entirely stocked up, you have time to seize a coffee and a handmade bagel from a rustic family members business enterprise – the Silver Princess café and artwork house. Continue to be to look through the artworks, or hit the highway and begin your travel again to Melbourne. It’s only an hour away, so you can conveniently arrive back and do it all once again.
