Have I mentioned how much I LOVE Daylesford!!!! (5 ‘!’ rating) This was Jen and Mark’s first time here….so I wanted to give them a great taste of how wonderful this place is!
First off Jen and I hit the main street shops. Central Springs Inn is at the far end of the main street….so not far to walk to my fave BARGAIN shop. 🙂 We are seasoned, ‘professional’ BARGAIN shoppers and can spot a bargain from a long way off…lol !!! And I was pleased that I impressed Jen in showing her that Daylesford has the BEST Salvos shop we have EVER seen!! The clothes are next level, beautifully set out and fabulous prices. We DID spend a bit of time here and revisited the shop on our way back from meandering the main street 🙂
Daylesford main street is a GREAT place to window shop :)… the galleries, gift shops, interior decorator shops, French shops and warm clothes shops.
Met up with Kev and Mark and headed to the Convent Gallery. This ticks LOTS of boxes…
- STUNNING Autumn colours in the gorgeous gardens which surround the gallery (best time to visit Daylesford is of course Autumn… just bring your stylish winter woollies!!)
- does a DELISH lunch of homemade pies and the BEST Devonshire tea with LEAF tea and great coffee – we sampled them today
- an AMAZING Art collection on display – allow time to wander through the whole convent including the attic rooms that are jammed with history and mega amounts of art!!!
Beautiful Convent Gallery café overlooking the gardens.
Next stop was Lake Daylesford which is a 5min drive from the main street. There is a lovely pathway walk that you can do around the lake and it is picturesque from all angles 🙂 On your circuit walk…cross the road and head around the lake on the other side of the road as well. The whole walk takes about 45-60mins at a leisurely stroll. There are also slight detours you can do off the circuit pathway to sample some of the regions fresh spring water via hand pumps. Many are now not in use but you will find some that work. The tourist information will give you maps so that you find all the good ones.
After our walk it was time to head 9 kms out of Daylesford to the Chocolate Mill for their famous chocolates and hot chocolates.
TIP
My definite recommendation is the ULTIMATE HOT CHOCOLATE that you can get in milk (my fave) or dark choc or white choc.
They serve it in an ultra big cup (more like a bowl) with LOTS melted choc on the bottom served with frothed milk. (They even do a vegan friendly version with dark choc and soy for my vegan friends!!).
It is so so delish using a spoon to pull up the melted choc through the milk. YUM!!!!!
Their homemade chocolates are also DIVINE and you can watch them being made !!
AND…they also use Fair trade cocoa …BONUS!!!!
Time for a walk after our Choc Mill indulgence. Time to visit Hepburn Mineral Springs area which is about a 3km drive from Daylesford. This is another very picturesque location for a walk and more sampling of fresh, fizzy spring water (don’t forget your water bottles).
The Hepburn Bathhouse is located here. Jen and I went for a wander inside and discovered the spa/pool area. We decided to splurge…and indulge in a 90min session in the mineral rich pool and very large spa. Cost is $55 pp (the senior rate was $40). The boys were not keen (Kev – well not $55 keen) so Jen and I headed back to our room for our swimmers and towels.
The adverts for this experience say “Drift into a state of total relaxation and comfort” and I can honestly say in my quest of ‘Finding Relaxed’ ….this was FOUND!! The pool and spa window wall overlooks the autumn colours on the banks of Spring Creek and it was a BIG highlight. Definite must do!! We relaxed so well that we outlasted the few people who were there and when we only had 20mins to go… we had the pool and spa to ourselves.
Definitely recommend doing the last 90min session of the day. We asked the pool attendant if we could have a quick look at the other private spa facilities while we were there. As the spa couches were free he allowed us to trial these for 10mins. You lie on these stretcher beds in the pool and spa jets come up underneath you. THIS WAS BLISS!!! This experience normally costs $110 in this section… AND it was HEAVENLY… so pleased we got to sample it for free. Did I mention we were seasoned bargain hunters 🙂
NOW time for a confession. I LOVED my meal at FRANGOS last night so so much…that I encouraged the others to dine there tonight. And I had the same things again and loved it all again.
Thank you Daylesford for warming my heart, filling my senses and giving me once again….a wonderful RELAXED experience. I will back again soon:)