Tiny town punches above its weight
Unless you’re a music lover, or a lover of garlic, chances are this Victorian hamlet is not on your radar.
Unless you’re a music lover, or a lover of garlic, chances are the tiny town of Meeniyan in South Gippsland, about a two-hour drive from Melbourne, is not on your weekend-away radar. Home to fewer than 500 people, this sleepy little hamlet has regularly hosted some of the biggest names in Australian music, and an impressive roll call of international stars (former Superjesus frontwoman Sarah McLeod performs at the cute timber town hall on March 27, followed by renowned guitarist Jeff Lang in May).
The annual garlic festival attracts more than 8000 visitors keen to try the likes of ice cream and beer flavoured with the pungent ingredient each February. The Australia Day Scarecrow Competition, when streets and parks are taken over by an army of strange straw beings and animals, draws hefty crowds. Even though the national holiday was months ago, there’s still a healthy population of well-dressed bird deterrents in the community garden.
Yes, there’s much more to Meeniyan than meets the eye. Stroll down the main street and you’ll find several art galleries and cafes. Cyclists pedal along the 72km Great Southern Rail Trail, which runs through the heart of the village. Within a short drive are a handful of wineries (The Wine Farm, Lucinda Estate, Drummonds Corrinna).
But I’m not here for any of this. I’m headed to the Prom, Wilsons Promontory, only an hour or so down the road. At the southern-most tip of mainland Australia, with a network of walking tracks and beautiful beaches that escaped the bushfires of 2019-20, it’s one of Victoria’s most popular national parks. In peak holiday season, campsites and cabins here are so sought after they are allocated to guests by online ballot months in advance.
A fabulous alternative to camping or glamping in the park is Ross Farm, a 10-minute walk from the centre of Meeniyan. And like the town itself, it’s a place that confounds first impressions.
The former working dairy farm offers accommodation in three reimagined rural buildings: a one-bedroom cottage built in the 1960s, a two-bedroom barn and a three-bedroom dairy that wraps around what used to be the old cattle yard. I’m in The Barn, which, from the outside, looks like a typical country shed; all rusted corrugated iron hunkered down beside a concrete rainwater tank. Step inside through the oversized weathered steel door and it’s a sharp reminder you should never judge a book by its cover.
Built by father and daughter team Andrea and Lindsay Moore using the original structure’s footprint and recycling as much building material as possible, The Barn has an unexpected wow factor. In the middle of the ground floor, a spiral staircase crafted from corten steel leads to a bedroom in the loft with a deep, rectangular Japanese-style tub made of local cypress. Ribbon windows look out over the Tarwin Valley’s grass-covered hills.
Downstairs is flooded with light, thanks to a sliding glass wall that opens on to a courtyard with convivial fire pit, set and ready to light. There’s a second bedroom here, and a huge onsen-style bathroom. Interior walls are made with oriented strand board that looks like flattened bales of hay; floors, basins and sinks are in polished concrete; taps and splashbacks are in glimmering and burnished brass; kitchen cupboards and the shower area are clad in granite. Andrea designed the timber furniture to fit the space and almost everything has been crafted by local makers, much of it by her father in his shed.
There’s a small but reasonably well-equipped kitchen. A breakfast hamper laden with local pan de sal bread (good luck making that last until morning), cultured Gippsland butter, fresh eggs and herbs from the farm garden awaits on the bench. I’ve picked up a ready-made meal from the Meeniyan Pantry & Cellar to reheat for dinner, so the facilities are perfectly adequate for my purposes. Hand-made stoneware plates, bowls and cups are stacked on wooden shelves. Curtains, sheets, towels and bathrobes are stone-washed linen in muted greys, camel and cream. It’s Scandi design meets Japanese bathhouse with lots of Australian industrial chic touches. Ross Farm turns any preconceived notion of chintzy country style on its head.
The overall effect is moody and tactile; it’s difficult to stop stroking the cowhide cushions and sheepskin throws strewn across the leather couch. This is the perfect spot for curling up with a good book beside the wood-fired heater on a blustery day. If I didn’t have a date at the Prom, that’s exactly what I’d be doing.
In the know
Ross Farm is at 84 Hewett Street, Meeniyan, Victoria. Rates start at $330 a night for two, minimum two-night stay.
Lee Atkinson was the guest of Visit Victoria and Ross Farm.
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