Sunday lunch: Lavandula, Shepherds Flat

WANDER around Lavandula Swiss Italian Farm and chances are you will meet Flora MacDonald the cheeky terrier, Barbarella the ginger cat, two donkeys (Ferdinand and Theodora) and Pascal the pony.

They take no time endearing themselves to those who visit the boutique lavender farm at Shepherds Flat, near Daylesford.

Twenty years ago Carol White fell in love with the property once owned by Italian-speaking Swiss immigrants who ran a dairy farm from the 1860s.

Today it resembles a European mixed farm complete with restored stone farm buildings clustered around a cobbled courtyard, cottage garden beds, swathes of lavender crops in shades of vivid purple through to a deep pink, plus a cafe and a shop selling home-made body products.

We settle at a table under shady ash trees at the rustic La Trattoria, which was inspired by a cafe in Ticino, an Italian-speaking canton in southern Switzerland.

Here chef Jarratt Volke creates a seasonal al fresco menu with dishes featuring the bounty from the potager garden brimming with herbs, vegetables, fruit and flowers surrounded by stone walls and espaliered crab apples.

The regional antipasto platter for two ($35) with Istra smokehouse meats, char-grilled vegetables, olives, frittata, cheese and warm sourdough from the nearby Red Beard Bakery is perfect for a lazy lunch.

Dessert is contemplated as we taste-test a glass of lavender champagne ($8) and pale pink lavender lemonade ($5) while tossing up between lavender scones for two ($8.50) with house-made jam and lashings of cream and lemon polenta cake with lemon syrup ($8.50). The lemon cake is triumphant and proves an excellent choice.

Reviewed by Sue Wallace, who was hosted by Tourism Victoria.

Lavandula Swiss Italian Farm, 350 Hepburn-Newstead Road, Shepherds Flat via Daylesford, phone 5476 4393. Open daily from September to May from 10.30am-5.30pm, open in winter at weekends. Cost: $3.50 for adults and $1 school age children. See lavandula.com.au. To stay: Lavandula Contemporary Country Accommodation (lavandula.com.au); Hepburn Villas (hepburnvillas.com.au); Cloverhill Hepburn Springs Accommodation (cloverhill.com.au).