Video soundtrack – I’m Here by The Stoics 

Take the train from Melbourne to find vintage heaven in the small country town of Tyabb, where The Tyabb Packing House Antiques complex is open for lunch and afternoon tea (with great home-made food). Over two acres of retro clothing, old books and (even) parasols are waiting. It’s open from Thursday to Sunday, from 10am to 5pm

The Packing House is opposite the local train station, located at 14 Mornington Tyabb Road, Tyabb, Victoria. If you are hiring a car for the drive from Melbourne,  there is a large, free car-park outside the store.

The traders specialise in art deco, Scandinavian furniture, handpicked books and old magazines, vintage film posters, antique jewellery, Victorian linen and funky 1970s kitchen equipment. The space  is so vast it takes in brass beds as well as tennis rackets and an eccentric range of store dummies, modelling the best of the Fifties. Prices range from around AUD$10 for a silk scarf or $5 for a 1970s children’s book.

Unlike a lot of vintage and retro stores in Victoria, this one is enormous and it’s also big on carefully chosen clothing, so there are fewer acrylic 1980s shirts and a much higher selection of stylist favourites from all eras.

Catch the train to Tyabb from Flinders Street station and check journey details before you go.