Adelaide Hills: eat, drink, admire, explore...
Take it from a local - autumn is the best time of year to explore everything the Adelaide Hills has to offer.
There isn’t a better time to visit the Adelaide Hills than autumn; almost every local will tell you it’s their favourite season. Sunny, still days are accompanied by a shimmering show of colour as town streets and country lanes are bathed in gold and cardinal red leaves. The nights may be drawing in but the light, captured so famously by Hills artist Sir Hans Heysen, has a seductive velvety quality.
I’m reminded of Heysen’s paintings as we tootle along Swamp Road towards Lenswood, beneath slopes cloaked in butter-coloured vines and apple orchards heavy with fruit. In a gully a massive candlebark gum – one of Heysen’s favourite trees – takes centre stage, the white trunk so luminous it might be spotlit.
I moved from Sydney to the Hills (as South Australians call this lovely region) two decades ago but still feel the thrill of a tourist, especially at this time of year. There’s always a new cellar door, restaurant, art gallery or chi-chi store to check out, another little road I’ve never noticed, another forest trail to explore – perhaps joining intrepid foragers hunting for the elusive porcini.We might be in deepest Tuscany rather than a short drive from downtown Adelaide. Stretching from near McLaren Vale in the south, taking in Mount Lofty and following the ranges north towards the Barossa Valley, the region incorporates a string of pretty towns and villages and a patchwork of landscapes: vineyards, orchards, dairy farms, historic gardens and dense stringybark forests that are home to abundant birdlife and a large koala population. It’s a rich food basket, and almost anything you can think of is grown here, even dainty flowers for the Jurlique skincare company (farm tours available). I happen to live near a large farm that grows the bulk of Australia’s Brussels sprouts. It has a handy farm kiosk, one of many little roadside honesty stalls dotted across the Hills selling apple pies, flowers, pumpkins, jams and pick-your-own strawberries, cherries and figs in season.
Today we are making our way to one of my favourite restaurants, Mount Lofty Ranges Vineyard, cantilevered above steeply terraced vines five minutes from Lenswood. Chef Adam Bowden, late of the Ritz in London, works his magic on 100 per cent local fare: Forest Range duck, Woodside buffalo curd and a delicious gnudi using a Hills-made alpine-style cheese. Restaurateur Sharon Pearson, who worked in the film industry in Sydney in a former life, reels off a list of filmmakers, advertising executives and other creatives moving here. There’s an exciting energy around all sorts of small-scale endeavours in the Hills, especially food and wine.
Paddock-to-plate is a mantra celebrated in restaurants large and small. The tiny Summertown Aristologist has a large vegetable garden and makes everything in-house; its cellar door is a good place to explore “minimal intervention” wines – the Hills is at the vanguard of this movement. Or join the throng at Lot 100, a huge, stylish shed set on an 84ha farm near Nairne. It’s both restaurant and cellar door for a range of drinks makers, from Vinteloper wines to Adelaide Hills Distillery and The Hills Cider Company (for the designated driver, there’s a delicious non-alcoholic cider).
Cellar door restaurants are scattered across the Hills. Outside Hahndorf, The Lane Vineyard offers stunning views from a handsome glass-sided building, and Sidewood Estate serves great food in stylish surrounds, the restaurant hung with an impressive collection of contemporary Australian art. In an old stone barn at Howard Vineyard in Nairne, chef Chang Koog Lee’s Korean-influenced menu changes seasonally, but the delicious chocolate brownie with miso ice-cream is a mainstay.
Every town has a popular pub restaurant; the historic Crafers, Stirling and Uraidla Hotels fairly heave on weekends (within Covid parameters, of course). And at the Stanley Bridge Tavern in sleepy Verdun, the tiny front bar with huge open hearth (and generally a dozing dog) is a charming time-warp.
If you’re stocking a picnic basket, purveyors include the Stirling Organic Market (a Hills institution), Red Cacao chocolatier (Stirling and Mount Barker) and the Uraidla Bakery, next door to the pub, which makes great sourdough, pastries and pies. At the other end of the Hills the cute Rise Artisan Bakery in Nairne, housed in a church and sharing the space with an antique store, is open Thursday-Saturday.
Fancy some ethically responsible fish and chips? Check out Angler on the Stirling high street. For pizzas go to Lost in a Forest in the old Uraidla church, and for South-East Asian fare the tiny Honey Bang Bang in Littlehampton (the salt and vinegar eggplant is addictive).
Weekends are busy with vintage car clubs and cyclists, the latter channelling Richie Porte, dancing on their pedals up Corkscrew Hill or Norton Summit. Join the Lycra crowd at the Harvest Café in Mylor, with tables set beneath the old oak trees; a delicious hazelnut and chocolate croissant from the onsite bakery provides the perfect sugar hit.
If wine touring is more your speed, the Hills is home to dozens of cellar doors (pick up a map from the Visitor Information Centre in Hahndorf). Book a “Friday Table” at the elegant Shaw + Smith (vineyard tour, lunch and tutored tasting), or a flight of Croser bubbles at Petaluma Wines outside Woodside. Sample some of the country’s finest pinot noir at Ashton Hills Vineyard while enjoying lovely views over the Piccadilly Valley. Then perhaps a platter in the garden at Golding Wines near Lobethal, or a chocolate/ wine pairing at Hahndorf Hill Winery.The cooler months are perfect wine touring weather so plan ahead for the popular Winter Reds weekend festival (July 23-25), the program to be announced soon.
For now, autumn colour takes centre stage – and nowhere more so than at the 97ha Mount Lofty Botanic Garden, which has an amazing collection of cool-climate trees and plants. The Stirling and Hahndorf high streets are also a blaze of colour, courtesy of long avenues of oak, ash and elm trees.
Established in 1839, Hahndorf retains an impressive collection of charming settler era cottages and buildings, attracting swarms of travellers, many tucking into giant German meat platters at the two historic pubs. But there are also wine bars with tapas, cellar doors, art galleries, and gin cocktails at the pretty Ambleside Distillers. Or coffee at the lovely Paintbox store and gallery, a little slice of Paris.
You’ll be wanting to walk off some of that food and wine; fortunately, the Hills is crisscrossed by hiking trails. The steep Waterfall Gully to Mount Lofty Summit hike will burn a few calories, or you might prefer a more sedate section of the 1200km Heysen Trail.
Heysen’s charming Arts and Crafts house and studio outside Hahndorf, The Cedars, is open to visitors Tuesday-Sunday and remains one of my favourite places. Unchanged in a century, the house is so atmospheric it feels like the artist has just stepped out and might return at any moment.
Heysen loved the Adelaide Hills’ seasonal rhythms, and in many ways these too are unchanged. As you finish reading this, I’ll be making a start on stacking firewood and airing winter duvets, waiting patiently for the rains to arrive.
TOP PLACES TO STAY
Sequoia Lodge at Mount Lofty House
Australia’s newest luxury lodge has 14 handsome villas, and a day spa with spring-fed onsen tubs opening soon. There’s world-class food courtesy of chef Jin Choi and more lovely rooms in the historic Mount Lofty House. From $1000 a night. sequoialodge.com.au
Pavilions at Lenswood
Alpine-style pavilions nestled in a pretty valley with apple orchards, vines and forest. Think deep bathtubs and log fires. From $365 a night. pavilionsatlenswood.com.au
Thorngrove Manor
Channel your fave Game of Thrones character at this five-star hotel-cum-castle complete with turret chambers, four-poster beds and ornate plaster ceilings. From $1199 a night. thorngrove.com.au
Lucent Art House, Stirling
Three modern villas that double as an art gallery (with pieces for sale) combine sleek interiors with cosy comforts. From $250 a night. lucentarthouse.com.au
Sticky Rice Villas, Stirling
Three luxury villas, with an acclaimed cooking school onsite. From $320 a night. stickyricevillas.com.au
Blakiston Creamery
Cool reimagining of an 1896 cheese factory. Self-catering for up to eight, with a New York loft vibe. From $750 a night. blakistoncreamery@gmail.com
These posh ‘pigs in a blanket’ are perfect for parties
Crispy, salty, fatty, sweet – these are sausages with a little something extra.
The high-stakes police surveillance operation that brought down Greg Lynn
Officers didn’t have enough evidence to charge the Jetstar pilot with the murders of Russell Hill and Carol Clay. What they desperately needed was surveillance. In the middle of a pandemic lockdown, how did they get inside his home undiscovered?