Dairy Flat Lodge & Farm, the Wolf-Tasker family’s farm stay just outside Daylesford, is one of six properties shortlisted for Best Holiday Home in Time Out Australia’s first Travel Awards. Winners will be announced on 23 November.
Dairy Flat Lodge & Farm in Musk has been named a finalist for Best Holiday Home in the inaugural Time Out Australia Travel Awards.
It is the only Victorian property in the category. The other five nominees are interstate: Lumière Lodge in West Hobart, Sabi Stays near Binalong Bay and Tunnel Tasmania on Bruny Island, and Simpson Cottage and Starscape Australia in New South Wales.
The awards, run in partnership with Wise, cover ten categories, from luxury and boutique stays to eco-tourism and wellness travel. Venues cannot nominate themselves. Time Out says its editors visited every nominee before drawing up the shortlists.
Dairy Flat is owned and run by the Wolf-Tasker family, who founded Lake House in Daylesford more than 40 years ago. The property opened at the end of 2019 and has been developed steadily since.
The farm covers almost 40 acres of rolling country about ten minutes’ drive from Daylesford, close to the Wombat Forest. It is run as a regenerative farm using organic practices.
Its herb and vegetable garden supplies the Lake House kitchens. There is also a young orchard of apples, pears, stone fruit, quince and medlar, a vineyard of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, an established olive grove, and a spring-fed dam stocked with trout.
A bake house on the farm produces slow-fermented sourdough and pastries. It also hosts sourdough baking classes, with the next on Sunday 22 November.
The luxury lodge sleeps up to 12 guests in six king suites and is booked for exclusive use, with a concierge on site. Its furniture and art were commissioned from local makers, and the suites hang landscape paintings by Allan Wolf-Tasker. Guests have use of a mineral pool, hot tub, fire pit, electric bikes and the farm itself, including a small herd of alpacas.
Time Out’s Melbourne editor, Leah Glynn, who stayed at the lodge, wrote that the family’s ongoing work has made it one of the state’s leading country escapes.
Port Fairy is Victoria’s only contender for Best Destination. Several Melbourne hotels made other shortlists, and both Victorian nominees for Best Wellness Travel are on the Mornington Peninsula: Alba Thermal Springs & Spa and Peninsula Hot Springs.
Alongside the editors’ awards, Time Out is running People’s Choice awards for Favourite Hotel, Favourite Destination and Favourite Travel Experience or Attraction. Voting is open to the public until 13 November, and voters go into a draw for a $500 gift card.
Winners in both the editors’ and People’s Choice awards will be announced on 23 November.
The full shortlist and People’s Choice voting are on the Time Out Australia website.
