Starting from Dixons Creek, you can see the best of the Yarra Valley in a single day without spending it in the car. Here is the loop we give guests at check-in.
Dixons Creek sits about two thirds of the way up the valley, on the Melba Highway between Yarra Glen and the mountain country. That position is the whole trick: the cellar doors are on your doorstep, Healesville is fifteen minutes south, and the forest roads start ten minutes north. You never drive more than about twenty minutes in any direction.
Morning: start close, then work outwards
Have a slow breakfast before you go anywhere. Most of the valley's cellar doors do not open until around ten or eleven, so there is no advantage to an early start.
Begin with Fergusson Winery, which is roughly a five minute walk from De'Vine Escape. It is the easiest possible first stop, because you can leave the car where it is.
From there, Immerse is a couple of minutes up the road on the Melba Highway, and De Bortoli Yarra Valley Estate is a short drive north on Pinnacle Lane. Two cellar doors before lunch is plenty. Three starts to feel like work.
If nobody wants to drive
Plenty of guests book a wine tour instead, which means everyone gets to taste. Our partners at Yarra Valley X arrange local tours and e-bike days, and can pick up from the property.
Lunch: eat where you already are
Two easy options sit within a few minutes of us. The restaurant at Fergusson Winery does relaxed regional cooking in a working winery setting. DiVino Ristorante, at e'Stellar Estate, is Italian-inspired and sits in the middle of the vines.
If you would rather get out of Dixons Creek for an hour, Yarra Glen is six kilometres south and has cafes, a pub and a bakery on the main street. Healesville, fifteen kilometres on, has the valley's densest run of restaurants and is worth the drive if food is the point of your day.
Afternoon: pick one of three
By early afternoon you have a decision to make. All three of these work, and all three get you back for dinner.
- The forest. Head north up the Melba Highway and turn onto the Black Spur, the road between Healesville and Narbethong that climbs through mountain ash and tree ferns. It is one of the great drives in Victoria and takes about half an hour each way from Dixons Creek. Add another forty minutes if you continue to the Redwood Forest near Warburton.
- The animals. Healesville Sanctuary is fifteen kilometres away and is built around Australian native species: platypus, wombats, dingoes, koalas and a large collection of birds. Allow three hours if you want to see it properly.
- The art. TarraWarra Museum of Art shows contemporary Australian work in a building set into the hillside near Healesville. It pairs well with a late lunch and is the quietest option of the three.
Evening: do nothing in particular
The best part of staying in Dixons Creek rather than in town is that the day ends softly. Come back, light the fire pit, and watch the light go off the vines. The property runs to ten acres, so there is room to walk off lunch around the lake before dinner.
If you want a meal without driving again, ask us at reception. We will tell you who is open, who takes walk-ins, and who you need to book.
A note on timing
Cellar door hours vary by season and some close on weekdays, particularly in winter. Check before you set out, or ask us and we will call ahead. Driving times given here are approximate and assume light traffic.
Stay in the middle of the valley
De'Vine Escape has 22 rooms on ten acres in Dixons Creek, about a five minute walk from Fergusson Winery and an hour from Melbourne.