Castlemaine – Victoria’s best-loved bohemian bush town – is also home to The Restorer’s Barn, a slice of secondhand heaven. By Holiday Goddess Editors.

Castlemaine used to be the number one destination for school trips in the 1970s and 1980s as any Melbourne grown-up will tell you. And it’s true, the gold mining history and beautifully preserved Victorian and Art Deco buildings are still there. This time, though, you won’t have to study anything except for the unique local shops.

Castlemaine is home to a lot of discerning writers and artists, hence one very cool bookshop (with a gigantic cat sign over the door). And there is a lovely, Art Deco nostalgic cinema and theatre too (with live bands and the occasional psychic medium). It’s basically a must-see Victorian town. Even the huge pub at the end of town has been converted into a vast fashion centre (find it just a short walk from the Castlemaine train station).

It’s The Restorer’s Barn that the faithful flock to, though. Thousands of secondhand plates, saucers and cups. Old biscuit tins. Ancient Bay City Rollers albums. How can you resist? Find of the day: Proper French door numbers. Second find of the day: half a 1950s car.

Across the road you’ll find a vast handmade soap shop, and the kind of crumbling buildings which disappeared in the rest of Australia fifty years ago.

Castlemaine is a wonderful day out, by train or car. But don’t smash the secondhand china.