Provenance, Beechworth review: Good taste

With an award-winning chef in the kitchen, Michelle Potts settles into a luxury suite.

Planning ahead for the good doctor's birthday weekend is always wise. He's a Libran. Pondering is part of the process. Will it be a sojourn in the stables of a 19th-century bank in beautifully preserved Beechworth or a luxe architect-designed chalet in the bucolic Buckland Valley?

Bags are packed, Provenance is booked and we're Beechworth-bound.

Beechworth is a pretty town, verdant in parts - a striking contrast to the rugged boulder-strewn landscape. Many of the old colonial buildings crafted from locally quarried granite are heritage listed. Bed and breakfasts, antique stores and tearooms dominate the main street. But our interests lie in local bounty.

After putting Myrtleford on the map through former two-hatted restaurant Range, chef Michael Ryan, along with partner and winemaker Jeanette Henderson, moved to Beechworth to open Provenance Restaurant and Luxury Suites. Within months, the restaurant was named The Age Good Food Guide 2010's best new country restaurant and was awarded a chef's hat.

Well timed for the 2pm check-in, we angle park outside the grand old Bank of Australasia (circa 1856), walk up the drive and give the towering timber door a nudge. Out comes Ryan in chef's whites, sleeves rolled, taking respite from his mise en place. We follow the host past the kitchen and family residence, wending our way through a lush courtyard garden to the converted carriage-house and stables.

Three downstairs suites with fancy outdoor chairs and round marble-topped tables overlook the garden. The upstairs suite has an L-shaped balcony and white wicker setting.

While birthday boy morphs into bellboy, I snoop. It's a stylish blend of occidental and oriental, in a neutral palette of ivory, taupe and chocolate brown - spacious for a bed and breakfast. Dark timber bedside tables, a small coffee table and a black lacquered wardrobe salute the East. Local magazines and a nicely bound guide to Provenance and Beechworth share an antique Asian sideboard with a flat-screen TV, CD and DVD. Wall-mounted window screens add an artistic touch and split-system heating and cooling adds comfort. The firm king-size bed, plump with latex pillows and a down-filled duvet dressed in luxury Egyptian cotton linen, promises blissful sleep. In the corner, a compact utility cupboard hides crockery and glassware, a kettle, coffee plunger and a bar fridge stocked with mineral water, milk and that Italian-style fizz. Slide the nearby door to reveal a smart hotel-style spa bathroom with glass-walled rain showers. Plush bath sheets and L'Occitane body products add more luxe.

For dinner, we wander to Wardens; there's no shortage of fine diners in Beechworth. Well sated after memorable pasta, we saunter home for that blissful night's sleep.