Abergeldie, Smeaton.
3472 Creswick-Newstead Road, Smeaton, Vic
phone: (03) 5345 6223
web: daylesford.net.au/abergeldie
To arrive at Abergeldie, with its four antique-filled bedrooms in a lovingly preserved 1870s homestead, is to sit down to home-made cake with cream and tea, served in front of a roaring fire. The tone for your next 36 hours is set.
It's hard to believe you are in a B&B although, in this case, perhaps it should be called Breakfast and Bed.
Not that there's anything wrong with the Himalayan mound of pillows and the snowy sheets: it's just that a meal that includes fresh juice, a choice of fruit dishes (stewed and fresh), a range of cereals, followed by eggs, country bacon, garlic mushrooms and tomatoes with toast, home-made jams and unlimited cups of tea or coffee should not come second to anything.
Cost: cottage, $175 a night; homestead bedrooms, $165 a double a night (includes cooked breakfast).
Distance: 125km (11/2 hours' drive) north-west of Melbourne.
- Good Weekend
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