Primavera at Lavandula

Lavandula is a little taste of Europe in Central Victoria. A rolling country road leads you to tall poplars that signal the driveway, just ten minutes north of Daylesford. Among the hills you'll find a beautiful spring garden set in a bend of the creek. At the heart of the farm are 1860s stone buildings, lavender fields, an olive grove, vineyard, fruit trees, vegetable garden, and farm animals.

You can discover rural Italian architecture of the 1860s, relax in the spacious garden, explore the property, play petanque, and enjoy lunch or teas at the licensed daytime cafe, La Trattoria. Jarratt Volke's menu explores European cuisine and sources foods seasonally from Lavandula's garden. You can eat al fresco with a view of Mt Franklin and the lavender, or indoors in a snug timber room or a spacious stone loggia. Find the barn filled with homewares and Lavandula's range of products, which are good for the body and soul.

They just enjoyed Lavandula's little spring festival that salutes the lifestyle of the Italian-speaking Swiss who founded a dairy farm during the gold rushes. To honour this Swiss-Italian heritage, they showed beautiful slides of walking in Ticino. La Trattoria featured a spring menu, and nearby were biscotti, Italian-made wines and olive oil, Italian music and dancing, gorgeous chickens for sale, or Fay Thompson's family history in the farmhouse. Gary Thomas, of Spade to Blade catering, demonstrated the making of luganeghe (sausages of northern Italy and Ticino).