Valentine’s Day has a template. Roses, a restaurant booking, something that feels like an occasion rather than actually being one. We’d like to suggest something different. The Case for Stillness The most romantic thing you can do for another person is give them your full attention. Not your phone-in-pocket, half-listening attention. The kind that’s only […]

Every autumn, the Grampians wine region does something it’s very good at: brings people together over good food and better wine. The Grampians Grape Escape returns in 2026 — a multi-day festival spread across wineries, cellar doors, and venues throughout the region. It’s one of the best food and wine events in regional Victoria, and […]

One of our favourite reasons to head into Pomonal involves some of the most exciting wines in the region. Black & Ginger Wines host their beautiful cellar door, The Wine Shed, right next door to the iconic Barney’s Bar & Bistro. A Grampians Staple Black & Ginger is known for pushing the boundaries of the […]

A morning at the Nook often starts slowly. A pot of coffee in the kitchen while the clouds gently cascade over the ridge and the morning sun ignites the sandstone escarpment. But when you’re ready to wander, there are a few places nearby that understand the ritual of a good brew. Livefast, Halls Gap A […]

The first thing most guests notice isn’t the view, although the view is the first thing they mention later. It’s the hamper on the kitchen bench — a arrangement of things that takes a moment to take in because each item turns out to be from somewhere specific. What’s in the Hamper The sourdough is […]

Pomonal General Store is the kind of shop you can’t quite explain until you’ve been inside it. Coffee, local produce, something for a picnic, something for breakfast — yes, all of that. But mostly it’s Nadya, who runs it like it belongs to the village rather than to her, because she thinks it does. Nadya’s […]

There’s chocolate in your hamper. Not the supermarket kind — handcrafted dark chocolates made by Kerrie, whose workshop and cafe operate out of Pomonal. They’re in the hamper because they’re good, and because they’re made by someone ten minutes from where you’re sleeping. The Chocolate Kerrie uses Belgian chocolate sourced via the Cocoa Trace program, […]

Halls Gap has a wine shop worth knowing about. Not a tourist bottle shop — a proper cellar, run by someone who knows what he’s talking about and genuinely enjoys the conversation. Simon Freeman Simon has been curating Grampians wine longer than most people have known the region makes it. He can tell you which […]

There’s a sourdough culture in your hamper that has been alive considerably longer than your booking. It crossed Australia in a car, ended up in Pomonal, and became the foundation of a bakery that we’d back against most of what’s available in any city. Blue Wren Bakery is Nick and Jackie’s project. It’s been part […]

When we first moved to this hill, it was a cleared paddock. Open sky, dry ground, a blank slate that didn’t know what it could become. We had a rough idea, and a good nursery not far away. Half an acre of native garden later, we have our answer. Vaughan’s Native Nursery Almost everything in […]