Grampians, Wimmera & Silo Art Trail

The Grampians, Wimmera and the Silo Art Trail are a destination worth considering for Victorians seeking a blend of spectacular scenery, stunning wine and food offerings, and a host of fascinating small towns reflecting a bygone era, and now stunning art installations that are recognised around the world.

We say it again and again, our clients are the World’s Best, and Sharon is no exception!

Sharon emailed me a very informative email this week with something a little different for us Victorians to consider for a mini break….. hopefully sometime very soon!

Here it is,

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With many Victorians desperate to get away for a mini break once we are allowed, The Great Ocean Rd and other itineraries are obvious, but I was thinking that there might be an opportunity for the less commercialised routes.

Apart from our overseas holidays, we also tend to explore new parts of Australia and this year, we’ve had to re-acquaint ourselves with parts of Victoria that we haven’t been to for years.

One of the road trips we did at the end of last year was up to Ouyen overnight, then leisurely made our way down through the Silo Art Trail staying overnight in Stawell and then exploring the Great Western wineries the next day. Stawell of course has some history worth exploring too.

People wanting a longer break could also go west after Stawell and explore the Grampians, or stay at the Royal Mail Hotel in Dunkeld, and visit Horsham and Hamilton (where there is a really interesting Ansett Museum).

Between Ouyen and Mildura a French Canadian firm is building the largest (?? ) solar panel farm in the Southern Hemisphere. This is the reason why accommodation is so hard to find up that way and we only found all this out because we got accommodation in the Granny flat of a working farm outside Ouyen and the owners’ son owns the local hotel which accommodates the solar farm workers. The road up to Ouyen has some great little towns to stop off for morning tea and lunch and could be broken with an overnight stay if accommodation could be found. There is a fabulous bakery and coffee lounge /pie shop in Charlton, I think.

The farming landscape in the Mallee vs the Wimmera and the history of their settlements between the two world wars is also interesting as is the architecture. You can still find art deco buildings worth looking at.

I think it was Warracknabeal that was charming or maybe Wedderburn. There is a big sheep sculpture in the main street. And even more interestingly, there is a Women’s Centre in the main street, with lounges and information for women and spotlessly clean toilets cared for by the local women of the town. It is set up for mother’s to feed their children, change etc. I suppose in the old days when farmers came in to town for the day the women came also and needed a refuge where they could rest. It’s completely free and open to any woman for personal use or community meetings. Rather charming in this day and age.

The motel we stayed in at Stawell was very basic but there would possibly be wineries with cottages for overnighters.

We downloaded maps and suggested Art Trail itinerary from a local Council site at Yarriambiack Shire Council yarriambiack.vic.gov.au

A contact person given was mferguson@yarriambiack.vic Phone 03 5398 0100.

Have just found the contact details for the farm where we stayed outside Ouyen, so here goes… Grandma’s Cottage , 28 Calder Hway Ouyen ph 0417 660 893.

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Massive Thank You to Sharon, below is a few pics and some more information on the details above

Also there is a currently a campaign by the Victorian Government called “Click for Vic” where you can bring the best of Victoria’s food & wine to your door, well worth a look

Update – Another fabulous client has written to say you must visit The Stick Shed