Country outings for foodie families

Daylesford and the Macedon Ranges region of central Victoria could be called the lucky countryside. Its fertile lands and industrious, creative and principled producers provide opportunities galore for food-oriented families looking for a day away from the big smoke.

Tuki Springs

Trout fishing at Tuki Springs makes all-comers (even tots) instant experts. Catching a glistening, silvery fish is as easy as sinking a line, hooked with a corn kernel, just below the surface and waiting – sometimes no longer than a minute, depending on the pond. Six spring-fed pools overlook flat, open country dotted with old trees. It's a picture of serenity that belies the busy-ness beneath the water, which is teeming with trout. Once netted, dash into the stables (also a restaurant) where your fish is donked on the head, cleaned and bagged, or even cooked if you like. It may be confronting, it may not be, it will be delicious. The whole Tuki property consists of rolling hectares of grazing land that produces organic lamb and beef, stone cottages for overnighters and the converted stables restaurant, which has a kids' menu and take-home produce such as whole smoked trout and Tuki lamb sausages. Long-tailed lambs gambol about, chooks and roosters strut around, and there's a soft, friendly dog, too. It's a family business that makes visiting families welcome and ensures they leave well fed.

Details: Family $30 (includes two adults, children, two rods and bait); trout $15.50 a kg; Open daily 11am-6pm; 60 Stoney Rises Road, Smeaton 5345 6233; tuki.com.au

Lavandula

Eating the flowers at Lavandula lavender farm is made all the more palatable by the fact that they are baked into scones and infused into cordial for lavender lemonade or lavender sparkling wine. Served in the snug stone and timber cafe, with its fair-weather outdoor seating among a grove of ash trees, you might also pick at an antipasto platter of local produce (Istra smallgoods, Himalaya bread), or tuck into a braise or pasta. There are kids' serves and specials available. Wander around the 100-acre farm and say hello to the horses, llamas, the farm cat, free-ranging geese and Flora the dog. Play petanque, and check out the enchanting productive gardens, including olive trees, lavender bushes and vegie patches strewn with giant pumpkins (season depending). Among the 150-year-old stone buildings on the property is a small distillery where lavender products are invented and refined – and available to buy at the shop, such as "chef's hand cream" and "culinary lavender" for cooks.

Details: Adults $4, school-aged children $1; open Fri-Tues 10.30am-5pm (Daily during school holidays); 350 Hepburn-Newstead Road, Shepherds Flat 5476 4393; lavandula.com.au

Farmers' Markets

At a farmers' market recently, one of my pre-school children asked a stall-holder: "Are you a real farmer?" Farmers are rare in inner-city Melbourne, he was trying to reconcile the image with the reality (so, they don't all have accents and cartoon names like, Farmer Fred ...). Meeting people that make food makes good sense. To some degree, it instills a healthy respect for food and makes it more meaningful. Farmers' markets are alive with smells, sounds and sights. As a region, central Victoria has a bounty of fine producers, many of whom supply restaurants in Melbourne, and still set up a stall of a Saturday to talk to market-goers and promote their product. You might find local honey, organic veg, wines, ciders, cheese, plants, bread and biccies.

Details: Open Saturday 9am-1pm; Daylesford (Primary School, first of the month); Trentham (town square, third of the month), Lancefield (High Street, third of the month, from 8am); Woodend (corner High & Forest streets, first of the month), Kyneton (Piper Street, second of the month); Riddells Creek (Main Street, third of the month)

Wombat Hill House

Daylesford's botanic gardens has a rare bloom: a charming, rambling cafe/foodstore that serves simple, seasonal food using suppliers from nearby who are hand-picked by the owners (The Lakehouse's Wolf-Tasker family). The primped and polished converted caretaker's cottage, set among giant trees, garden beds and greenery has a big backyard where dogs are welcome too, with tables between raised garden beds. Kids can colour in the flying wombat mascot while knocking back a killer chocolate milkshake. Pizzas feature and top-notch pies and pasties, as well as home-made meatballs or fish and chips. Picnic produce and lunchboxes for kids, including a toastie, cookie and a drink, are fine options to take on adventures: exploring the gardens' forest trails, clambering up the tower at the top of the extinct volcano on which the gardens perch, or sprawling under a tree.

Details: Open Thurs-Mon 9am-4pm; Wombat Hill Botanic Gardens (off Central Spring Road), Daylesford 4373 0099; wombathillhouse.com.au

Hepburn Mineral Springs Reserve

Pack a few empty drink bottles and "take the waters" at Hepburn Mineral Springs Reserve. The 30-hectare park has a cluster of springs "on tap", each with a unique chemical composition (and flavour). Spring Creek runs through the gully of the Reserve along which three of the main springs are located: the Soda, the Locarno and the Sulphur Springs. The Wyuna Spring is a little further into the Reserve. Each has a unique flavour. Although natural mineral springs can be found all over the region, here, is where the bathhouse was built (originally in the 1890s) and exotic gardens grew in an attempt to make Europeans feel more at home in their adopted gold-littered country. Children will love to hate the taste of the minerally waters, and probably couldn't give a shrug about the purported health benefits derived from drinking water naturally imbued with magnesium, iron, calcium and sulphate. Explore the playground, bridges, stone walls, picnic spots and walks within the Reserve.

Details: Free; Mineral Springs Reserve Road, Hepburn Springs.