12 Daylesford shopping and sightseeing highlights: lake, museum and mill markets

Daylesford is a popular country town only an hour and half drive from Melbourne that is known for great food, galleries, shopping and of course the iconic Lakehouse that attract hipsters and hippies alike.  We recently enjoyed a great holiday here (see end of post for links to other posts) and spent quite a bit of time sightseeing and browsing the shops and markets.  They reflect the artists and artisans, the tree changers and tree huggers, the 19th Century gold rush diggers and 20th Century LBTQI community, that characterises Daylesford.  It has city style while retaining a rural charm.

Here are some of the places we visited (Note: many of these are on or near Vincent Street between Albert Street and Central Springs Road, which is the main shopping strip):

1. Blake Family Grocer (1 Howe Street, Daylesford)

Blakes is a "gourmet super store" that looks like a supermarket stocked by stallholders from a farmers market.  It offers lots of artisan and local food.  Everything is displayed with great style and a joy to browse with intriguing products such as tiger nut milk, corn and sweet potato spaghetti, pistachio brittle, 

2. Wombat Hill Florist (28 Raglan Street, Daylesford)

There is nothing like a florist bursting with vibrant colours and gorgeous flowers.  Even better when they have an amazing range of gifts candles, cards, cups, bowls and egg baskets.  It evokes beautiful gardens and talented artists.
 

3. Salvos Stores (22-24 Howe Street, Daylesford) 

We visited three op shops along Howe Street and the best seemed to be the Salvos with some eye catching displays and the best range of stock.

4. Daylesford Bazaar (Shop 4, 9 Howe Street, Daylesford)

The bazaar was a collective of stallholders who had a fine eye for arranging the gorgeous vintage furniture and goods.  It was a pleasure to browse and discover items that made me nostalgic and stuff I wished I had in my house if only I had the room and  budget.  

5: Mill Market (105 Central Springs Road, Daylesford)

We had been to the Mill Markets in Geelong before so were excited to see the Daylesford Mill Markets.  The old truck by the entranced was promising.  It had all the age and fun we expect of the wares.  It is a trek from the main street so we drove there.

The Mill Markets is in a huge old warehouse.  It is easy to feel lost in the maze of all the stalls, each of which is managed by different people.  They all have their own personality with some focusing on kitchenware, others clothes, some having lots of kids items and others jewellery  Most of it is fascinating.  It feels as much museum as market to browse all the historic items.

Here are a few examples of items: a miniature fruit basket, statuettes of Studio Giblhi's no face, little telephone box and Tardis, a ceramic white cat, a retro typewriter, Michelin man figurines, a framed floral picture, a kids wooden car, green goblets.  So much we wanted to buy.

These cat pictures amused me but I was also curious about the feet hanging down  at the top of the photo.  I wish I had looked up to see what this was.  A row of clothed dummies?  There was just so much to see in the Mill Markets that it was impossible to see it all.

6. Curious Antiques (91 Vincent St, Daylesford)

The Antiques shop on the corner of Vincent Street and Central Springs Road is in a fine 19th Century brick building.  Inside are a few cluttered rooms with a jumble of old stuff that is fun to comb for treasures.

We bought a few small things here and the older woman at a vintage cash register who only took cash - no cards - was kind and happy to chat over the state of the world.

7. Daylesford and District Museum (100 Vincent Street, Daylesford)

At 2.30pm on a Saturday I noticed the Daylesford and District Museum was open for the next half hour.  I organised for Sylvia to go on to the next shop and I went to the museum alone to look around at the photos and artifacts of the town history.

8. Paradise Books (46 Vincent St, Daylesford) 

I expected to find lots of bookshops in Daylesford as it is that sort of town.  Surprisingly there is just Paradise Books.  That is a sign of people reading less.  (We didn't even have a bookshelf in our holiday accommodation!)  It was sad to hear that the Book Barn by the Lake has closed.  

I hang my head in shame that I didn't go into Paradise Books on this trip.  We were too tired to go in by the time we passed.  Instead I took a photo of the gorgeous entrance which beckoned me with it's Victorian archway and printed bookshelves either side of the door.  Inside are 14 rooms over two floorsNext I time I will try better.  It is well worth it.

 9. Brick Lane Bazaar (34 Vincent Street, Daylesford

While there aren't many bookshops in Daylesford, there are many markets and op shops, many of which have books for sale.  Sylvia enjoyed looking around the Brick Lane Bazaar while I was at the Museum.  I had a quick look and it had lots of wonderful secondhand goods big and small to look at.  I particularly loved the dolls house furniture (above)

 10. Lake Daylesford (Leggatt Street, Daylesford)

Daylesford Lake is one of the best known landmarks in the town.  The walking track around the lake - called Peace Mile Walk (and apparently formerly known as Lovers Walk) stretches for 2.8km.  It is very pretty with lots of birdlife to be seen.

 

While the lake seems very much part of the town, I was surprised to find that it was artificial, having been constructed from an old gold mining site and opened in 1930.  I had thought that this was one of the places out of town visitors would have come to "take the waters" to be cured when it was a popular spa town in the 1880s.  Actually it was a spa town because of the abundant natural mineral springs in the area.  

 

Today Daylesford is still known for its spa.  The idea of Daylesford as a spa town was revived by the Lake House which opened as a restaurant in 1984 (see above photo of the original building).  Today the Lake House has grown to include a hotel, spa, farm and functions venue.  One of my neighbours, who used to live in Daylesford, tells me that she used to see weddings often as she walked around the lake. The restaurant sounds like a wonderful place to eat if you can get a seat and afford it's hefty prices.  Maybe one day!

We parked near the Boat House - where I have eaten on previous trips - and walked part way along the walking track in the glorious spring sunshine.  Before returning to the car, we had an ice cream at Walters 3460.  It is a pretty little hole in the wall with the most amazing smooth rich ice cream.

11. Daylesford Sunday Market (18 Raglan Street Daylesford)

The Sunday Market is another iconic place to visit in Daylesford.  We went here towards the end of our holiday after visiting quite a few markets and op shops.  I was a bit over shopping and spending so we didn't buy much but we did enjoy browsing the stalls.

The stalls have lots of cute craft, second hand bric-a-brac, clothes, food, drink and produce.  We stopped to buy fudge and a wonderful cheese and onion focaccia.  (As we nibbled on it on the drive home I wished i had bought more of the focaccia).  Sylvia liked the little felt cat and I was enchanted by the fairy terrariums.  There were also plants, jewellery, candles and carpets that caught our eye.  For those who wanted more entertainment there was a busker, a face paint stall and heritage train rides from the market. 

We hadn't eaten and had quite a few options for brunch: crepes, galettes, tacos, chips and scones.  We stopped for juice and giant roti with a fried egg for Sylvia and slaw and apple sauce for me.  We found a seat near the old train station and enjoyed a bit of crowd watching before leaving.

12 Convent Gallery (7 Daly Street Daylesford) 

My favourite place in Daylesford is the Convent Gallery, which as the name suggests was a convent school that has been restored and repurposed as an art gallery.  It is a beautiful old building with amazing artwork on show and a small museum in the basement.  I have written about it a lot more in a separate post that you can link to below or above.

More posts on our Daylesford holiday:

• Daylesford Accommodation 
• Daylesford Hotel: a grand country pub
• Daylesford Convent Gallery  
• Daylesford eating out: Cliffys, Hot Chocolate Apothecary and Daylesford Larder