holiday goddess logo

Rutherglen, Victoria, Australia

For vintage wine, old books and great bands, head to Rutherglen this autumn. (Video soundtrack: Jesse Morris and the Three Beans).

This small town, in lush countryside, is an easy escape from Melbourne’s Southern Cross train station and you can either spend well under AUD$100 a night to stay here, or choose from four-star hotels. The town suits everyone.

On Saturday 14th April Jones Winery & Vineyard (a short walk from town) is holding a wine and food matching event. The Jones label was a fixture on the tables of the funkiest Melbourne foodies in the Seventies , but its vines go back 100 years. Run by a sister-and-brother team, Jones also has a dining room with seasonal produce to try – and after you’ve tried samples at the bar, you are free to buy.

Rutherglen is also hosting Tex Perkins, Eskimo Joe, Stonefield and Zoophyte at the Rock In The Vines festival in April. For ticket and concert details, see Time Out Melbourne.

Rutherglen is most definitely a one-street town, with a solitary bookshop – Tapsells.  It has Sixties Pan murder mysteries, battered orange Penguins  from the post-war period and fabulous Ita Buttrose-era copies of The Australian Women’s Weekly. They ship worldwide.

If you are looking for special places to stay, at tiny prices, then  try the Rutherglen Caravan and Tourist Park, next to the town’s historic lake, with ancient gum trees and ducks nearby.

I stayed at The Victoria Hotel (AUD$50 from Wotif) and loved it. It’s the next best thing to being asked to stay at a privately-owned, listed Victorian homestead. I stayed midweek, booked last-minute and ended up with a huge room with its own fireplace and sweeping views of the vineyards. Nobody else was there and so I ended up having the entire Ladies’ Wing  and its shared bathroom to myself…bliss.  See our video to view the hotel’s lovely, sympathetically restored  guest rooms.

If you are serious about sampling the vineyards before you commit to visiting, the winemakers of Rutherglen have $6 glasses to try at the information centre, also on the main street. You can hire bicycles there from $25 for a half-day tour. (The Victoria Hotel, too, has bicycles to hire – and amazing weekend packages for women-who-drink-and-cycle).

Finally, if the weather is warm enough, and you’ve had enough of good wine and great music – Rutherglen’s 1930s’ swimming pool, a signposted walk from the main street, is the only place to be.

Story: Jessica Adams

Share on facebook
Share on twitter
Share on linkedin
Share on pinterest
Share on reddit
Share on tumblr
Share on pocket

Address

Website