Back in 2007 the millennial drought was well under way. The country was dry and farming communities were hurting. Clunes, the historic town 40km west of Daylesford, was suffering. Shops were closing and there was an uneasy sense of decline in the community. A group of locals put their minds together and decided to gather some book traders and turn Clunes into a mini book fair for a day. They expected a few hundred people. Six thousand showed up.
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Who said G&T's were purely a summer drink? This spicy cocktail will warm you up as the weather gets cooler.
2 orange slices (for more flavour, use dehydrated or brûléed orange slices)
1 teaspoon cane sugar
1 cinnamon stick
3 star anise pods
60ml Animus Arboretum Gin
150ml Strange Love No. 8 Tonic (or any other great quality tonic)
Add ice, orange, cinnamon stick and star anise to the glass. Pour gin over the ingredients to help infuse the flavours. Add tonic and stir before drinking. Voila!
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Drive to the eastern edge of Daylesford, where the elms begin to give way to farmland. Turn at the Farmers Arms and just before you get to the old railway bridge, take a left and follow the road for a few hundred metres to the old butter factory on your left. What you’re confronted with is a building that is distinctly Ye Olde Worldly, even King Arthur.
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Daylesford’s Farmers Arms Hotel is the type of character-filled, friendly pub that every country town wishes it had - and which dozens of metro pubs have tried try to emulate. The beautiful red brick building, complete with red geraniums in window boxes, gilt sign-writing on windows and clipped hedge houses the quintessential character filled bar.
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Danny Wootton is a quiet man. Softly spoken with a calming energy about him. You get the distinct impression that he sees the world differently. And not just because he spends most of his time looking at it through a lens.
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This month, my esteemed colleague Richard Cornish is taking a break to look after his mum so I decided to shake things up a bit.
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In the middle of the native forest on the outskirts of Blackwood is a sprawling garden that has erupted into a riotous range of oranges and reds.
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Chef Tansy Good has not laid out a Phil Spector style wall of flavour, instead, in her considered style, she has left space on the palate for wine.
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Local hospitality king Frank Moylan and his wife Melissa Macfarlane have returned to Kyneton’s Royal George Hotel.
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Artist John Lloyd sits in a stuffed leather chair under one of his landscapes.
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Alison Pouliot changed the way I see the world and she continues to do so.
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ChillOut Festival in Daylesford and Hepburn Springs, Lost Trades Fair in Kyneton, Castlemaine State Festival, Old Hepburn Hotel and Daylesford Polo.
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March is always one of my favourite months of the year: Summer is in full swing and is always reluctant to let Autumn appear; …
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The Palais-Hepburn has been reborn and it is beautiful. The 92-year-old dance hall in Hepburn Springs’ main drag has undergone refurbishment…
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It is mid-morning on a clear summer’s day and Hepburn Springs chef and restaurant owner David Willcocks is preparing for the evening service.
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The Old Hepburn Hotel is closing up shop. The freehold has been sold and the new owners won’t be continuing the lease.
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The new Holgate Brewhouse is a complex machine of interconnected stainless steel tanks, tuns, pipes and hoppers.
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The morning summer air is filled with the fragrance of a thousand roses.
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No matter what you have got yourself into, this refreshing Summer cocktail from the guys at Animus will see you well on your way to recovery. And redemption.
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