The town of DAYLESFORD has a New Age, alternative atmosphere, with a large gay community and several gay-friendly guesthouses. Its well-preserved Victorian and Edwardian streets rise up the side of Wombat Hill, where you’ll find the Botanical Gardens, between Hill Street and Central Springs Road, whose lookout tower has panoramic views. Not far away, on the corner of Daly and Hill streets, is the Convent Gallery (daily 10am–6pm; $3), a rambling former convent which now has seven galleries selling high-quality arts, crafts and antiques, and a Mediterranean-style café open for lunch and coffee. There’s a great Sunday market (8am–2pm) at the train station east of here.
All your esoteric needs are effortlessly taken care of at places like Books and Buddhas, 107 Vincent St, which sells crystals and offers tarot readings and free meditation sessions; complemented by the produce of the Himalaya Bakery at 73 Vincent St, which makes heavy but nutritious dark rye bread and delicious cakes.
Less puritan offerings are available at Sweet Decadence, 57 Vincent St, where you can have chocolates, coffee and cake in the characterful old bar of what was once the Victoria Hotel, and at Frangos & Frangos, 82 Vincent St, a café-restaurant in a restored pub, serving scrumptious breakfasts and Mediterranean-inspired food for lunch and dinner. The Harvest Café, at 29 Albert St (Fri–Sun 9am–9pm), is a friendly, nonconformist haven that has an extensive menu, plus folk and acoustic music on Sunday night. For a real splurge, try Lake House on King Street near the lake, an outstanding but expensive restaurant (tel 03/5348 3329; daily for coffee, brunch and dinner).
Lake Daylesford, a short distance south from the town centre on Vincent Street, is the location of the Central Springs Reserve, which has several walking tracks and old-fashioned water pumps from which you can drink the water of the mineral springs. The Lake Daylesford Book Barn here (open daily) is a picturesquely situated bookshop: with its extensive range of secondhand books, quaint pot-bellied stove and beautiful views, you could be here for hours. The charming Boathouse Café (tel 03/5348 1387) has lakeside dining (lunch and dinner daily, Sat & Sun also breakfast 9–10.30am), as well as dinghies, canoes and paddle-boats for rent.
If you want to stay in Daylesford, you should rely on the B&Bs and guesthouses: The Balconies at 35 Perrins St, a rambling mansion with several balconies overlooking the lake, is a favourite with gay visitors; 35 Hill Street is an early Victorian brick cottage just below the Botanical Gardens; and Ambleside, at 15 Leggat St, a meticulously renovated Edwardian guesthouse overlooking Lake Daylesford. Walsh’s Daylesford Hotel, on Burke Square, has pleasant pub rooms.
The tourist information office for the area is next to the post office on Vincent Street in Daylesford (daily 9am–5pm; tel 03/5348 1339); it has loads of brochures for the many places offering bed and breakfast and a board listing the vacancies at weekends, when places tend to fill up. You can get a bus to Hepburn Springs outside the office (Mon–Fri, 7 daily between 8.30am–5pm).
To get to Daylesford from Melbourne, take a train to Woodend, then a connecting bus to Daylesford (Mon–Sat 2 daily, Sun 1 daily). You can also take a train from Melbourne to Ballarat (Mon–Fri 1 daily) and then get the connecting bus to Daylesford.