Thursday, October 22, 2009

A Sunday Afternoon in Yarragon


Yarragon, a village nestled amongst the rich green rolling hills of the Gippsland region of Victoria, is an ideal place to spend a relaxing Sunday afternoon.

Our first stop was Gippsland Food & Wine, where we sampled some locally produced cheeses, including a creamy Brie-like creamy cheese, a blue cheese, a fairly strong Cheddar cheese, and a red cheese, which looked like the English Red Leicester cheese but had a stronger taste. You can also taste several wines that are produced in local vineyards, but since we had empty stomachs, we thought that we’d do this on another day!

We decided to have lunch in the adjacent tea room. I chose the Farmer’s Platter which includes a selection of local cooked meats (ham and salami) and cheeses, served with a large multi-grain bread roll and a salad. It was delicious!

Later in the afternoon, we treated ourselves to Gippsland Food and Wine's ice creams. The English toffee flavour is highly recommended. My daughter enjoyed a bubble gum ice cream, which was a bright green colour!

Chantry Faire is a rambling gift shop housed in the former Presbyterian Church. It is a treasure trove of all kinds of gifts, including Australian souvenirs, scented soaps and pretty jewelry.

We walked along the main street (Princes Highway) and came across a cute little courtyard, where we found one of my favourite types of shop – a fabric/needlework shop. It is called Candleberry Country and I felt like I was in New England in the USA when I was inside! My daughter and I browsed happily among the fabrics, patchwork squares, craft magazines, embroidery silks, hand-crafted quilts and many other items inside. You can see what I bought on my Crafts on a Budget blog.


We strolled on down the Princes Highway in the afternoon sunshine, which was a welcome change from the rain that we’d had for most of the week, and went in Tritec Art and Craft. We browsed around the scrap booking and card making materials, including a wide range of stickers. The shop also has a wide range of paints, canvas and other materials for artists.

A little further on was Bob’s Shed, an antiques store with a good selection of retro furniture from the 1950s and 1960s. At the door, there was a strange metal sculpture of a crouching man in an iron mask holding a gun. Inside, we thought that the dining table and chairs that looked as if they had once belonged in a 1950s diner would look good in our dining room!

On the way back to the station, on a strip of grass between the railway station and shops, we noticed a shining black steam engine that ran along the adjacent railway line until 1979. It is now being restored to its former glory.

This is a just a small taste of Yarragon, which has many other delightful shops, galleries and eateries to explore. Yarragon is within easy reach of Melbourne by either train or car. We enjoyed our visit to Yarragon and will definitely visit again.

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