The luxury country escape designed for food fans

CHECK-IN

You couldn’t ask for a smoother arrival. An hour after leaving Tullamarine Airport our rental car turns up the long drive lined with silver birches that leads to the lodge at Dairy Flat Farm. The sister property to Daylesford’s acclaimed Lake House, which is just 10 minutes’ drive away, Dairy Flat Farm is a 38-hectare regenerative farm that supplies produce to the Lake House restaurant, including bread and pastries from the bake house beneath the lodge.

THE LOOK

Step inside the lodge’s sprawling main room and you instantly want to nestle in to one of the cosy seating areas; the only question is, which one? Perhaps you will head to one of the couches in front of the fireplace, or perhaps it is the smaller seating nook to the side where a bowl of tulips and a stack of glossy coffee table books awaits. There is an inviting kitchen to one side, and a dining room table large enough to fit a football team, and a library on the far side. All of it is decorated in the distinctive Lake House style: an artful jumble of fabrics and furnishings, bespoke pieces and exquisite antiques, thick rugs and eye-catching art, much of it by the family’s late patriarch, Alan Wolf-Tasker.

THE ROOM

Dairy Flat Farm is designed for families or friends travelling together – although single-room bookings are available occasionally – so choosing which of the six bedrooms you will sleep in is part of the fun. Whether you opt for one of the four rooms in the main lodge, or one of the two rooms tucked into the former stables just behind the house, each one is designed as private sanctuary complete with king-size beds, deep soaking tubs and excellent wi-fi. Make the most of it by opting for an in-room massage using products from the Lake House’s indulgent all-natural Daylesford Pure range.

FOOD + DRINK

If your idea of a good start to the day is a hearty breakfast prepared by someone else, you are in luck – breakfast is included in your stay (and the pastries are incredible). For many guests, cooking their own meals is part of the pleasure of staying here but if you want someone else to take charge of lunch and dinner, that can be organised. (We take the latter option and enjoy feasting on superb dishes such as spiced carrot and lentil soup and duck with Jerusalem artichoke mash.) Be sure to book in a meal at the two-hatted Lake House restaurant, still one of Australia’s best regional restaurants.

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