Luxury lodge at Daylesford to open in December

Paddock to plate will soon have a luxurious new incarnation in Daylesford, Victoria.

Guestrooom at Dairy Flat Farm and Lodge near Daylesford.

Farm to plate will soon have a luxurious new incarnation at Dairy Flat Farm and Lodge, courtesy the team behind Victoria’s iconic Lake House gourmet retreat, the Wolf-Tasker family.

Ensuite in Dairy Flat Farm and Lodge.

Opening early December on a 15ha regenerative farm with established gardens just 6km from the Lake House in Daylesford, the exclusive-use, luxury lodge will sleep up to 14 in six ensuite bedrooms with a live-in concierge to organise the ultimate farm experience.

Dairy Flat Farm includes an extensive kitchen garden, vineyard, olive grove, orchard with 350 heritage fruit trees, beehives and bakehouse, enabling guests to immerse themselves in the day-to-day life of the property attending workshops on gardening, baking and beekeeping.

The view from Dairy Flat Farm and Lodge.

Guests can observe or “dive deep depending on their level of interest in getting their hands dirty”, says Lake House co-owner and culinary director Alla Wolf-Tasker.

But in true Wolf-Tasker style there will be cocktails at the end of each day and an enviable apres farm atmosphere in the urbane lodge, which has its own cellar, custom furniture, and commissioned artworks, including pieces by Allan Wolf-Tasker and lush botanical paintings by Alesandro Ljubicic.

The farm was established to supply the Lake House kitchen and provides an exciting laboratory for experimenting with unusual varieties. The new onsite bakehouse is up and running, operated in collaboration with Michael James, formerly of Melbourne’s Tivoli Road Bakery, and supplying slow-fermented sourdough breads and pastries to the Lake House and sister restaurant Wombat Hill House in the Botanic Gardens in Daylesford. Price on application.

■ dairyflatfarmdaylesford.com.au

Also try SingleThread, Sonoma County, California; Babylonstoren, Cape Winelands, South Africa.

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HOTEL BUZZ

■ New Zealand’s newest luxury lodge opens December on a vineyard estate in Central Otago; Gibbston Valley Lodge & Spa will feature 24 luxury villas, a day spa specialising in “vinotherapy’’; and restaurant and cellar stocked with back vintages.

■ A pair of restored Ottoman-era mansions with sweeping views of the Bosphorus in Istanbul’s upmarket Sariyer district will open next month as the Six Senses Kocatas Mansions with 54 guestrooms.

■ The St Regis Venice has debuted following a two-year renovation of the 1895 Grand Hotel Britannia; only steps from Piazza San Marco, it claims the most expansive waterfront position in the city and many of the 169 guestrooms have terraces or balconies.

Venice Simplon-Orient-Express.

■ Meantime, Belmond’s famous Venice Simplon-Orient Express (pictured) is channelling Gatsby with a roaring 20s rolling party March 27-29, 2020; prices start at £3760 ($7080) and include a speakeasy party and overnight at Belmond Hotel Cipriani in Venice and one “jazzy’’ night onboard.

■ The old Sydney GPO restored as The Fullerton Hotel Sydney has debuted at 1 Martin Place; the former Westin, now sister property to the acclaimed Fullerton hotels in Singapore, is offering guests launch benefits, including a $50 dining credit (until March 17); rooms from $380.