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No Beach Plans: A Red Hill Weekend at Lancemore Lindenderry
A country-house weekend at Lancemore Lindenderry in Red Hill, with long lunches at Tedesca Osteria, Pinot Noir at Polperro and cider at Mock Red Hill.
I’ve always been happiest near the ocean. Blame the Cancerian in me; salt water does wonders for my disposition. But a country manor has occupied an unreasonable amount of my daydreaming. Give me a long driveway, a rose garden and a fireplace. Ideally, someone else handles the hedges. A country house close to the sea? That’s Jane Austen territory, with better wine and fewer marriage negotiations.
Which explains my affection for Red Hill. A little over an hour from Melbourne, on Bunurong Country, the Peninsula’s inland roads run between apple orchards and Pinot Noir vines. In spring, the roses are out and there’s still enough chill in the evenings for a good coat. The restaurants take lunch seriously; the countryside has other things to do.
A friend and I drove down with an indecent amount of luggage and the sort of enthusiasm usually reserved for overseas holidays. We’d booked into Lancemore Lindenderry for the weekend, with grand plans involving Pinot Noir, long lunches, and very little regard for the time.
STAY | A Country-House Fantasy, Fulfilled
Lancemore Lindenderry Red Hill
At Lancemore Lindenderry Red Hill, clipped conifers line the driveway towards a white country house among roses. Beyond it, 34 acres of vineyards, orchards and old trees provide ample opportunity to indulge one’s landed-gentry fantasies.
Melbourne studio Hecker Guthrie has furnished the interiors like the country home of someone with very good taste and an enviable book collection. Sage-green walls, timber, open fires and shelves of books make the communal lounges places you’d actually use. Really, why don’t more hotels have libraries?
The gardens have their own history. Original owner Jan Clark took inspiration from Granada’s Alhambra for the long reflecting pond in the Zen Garden. Beyond it, the formality gives way to orchard paths and a lake beneath Australian trees.
Our ground-floor Garden Room opened directly onto the gardens. We started with sparkling wine by the fireplace before heading down to the lake. My friend had needed a break from the city, and we had more to talk about than one afternoon could reasonably accommodate.
A few lengths in the heated indoor pool and a session in the sauna took care of the afternoon’s more strenuous commitments. We emerged pink-cheeked and ready for wine. I’d packed for a small country-house social season. So far, the swimmers were winning. Dinner, at least, would require the good shoes.
Location: Lancemore Lindenderry, 142 Arthurs Seat Road, Red Hill, Mornington Peninsula
Price Guide: From $300 per night (rates vary by date)
Best For: Couples, Girls’ trips, Weekend escapes, Wine lovers
Need To Know: Heated indoor pool and sauna on site. The Dining Room is open to non-residents and the cellar door takes weekend walk-ins, but book dinner when you reserve your room.
EAT | The Tables Worth Dressing For
The Dining Room, Red Hill
I’d book another night at Lindenderry for The Dining Room. By evening, the great arched window faces the darkened gardens, with lamps casting pools of light across the tables. A Martini and oysters dressed in Lindenderry Estate rosé mignonette made for a very promising beginning.
Then came an Abrolhos scallop, torched and finished with XO, followed by roast quail arriving beneath a rosemary-scented cloud of smoke. Sher Wagyu rostbiff followed, accompanied by black garlic and beetroot. Afterwards, there was the small pleasure of walking straight back to our room, no taxi or sensible shoes required.
142 Arthurs Seat Road, Red Hill
Tedesca Osteria, Red Hill
I have enormous respect for a restaurant that asks for four hours of your afternoon. At Tedesca Osteria, Brigitte Hafner cooks in a restored farmhouse that has become one of Victoria’s most coveted dining reservations. Inside, a wood-fired hearth, flowers on white tablecloths and just 35 guests at a sitting set the scene. The $195 menu follows the fortunes of its biodynamic garden: handmade pasta, seafood, something from the fire. James Broadway looks after the wine. Book the table first; arrange the rest of your Red Hill weekend around it.
1175 Mornington-Flinders Road, Red Hill
Many Little, Red Hill South
At Many Little, chef Gayan Pieris builds a menu around his Sri Lankan heritage and produce from nearby Polperro Farm. Tuna ambul thiyal with finger lime, spanner crab in squid-ink kokis and hoppers with sambols have featured on the changing menu. Begin at the bar with a Ceylon Old Fashioned, where whisky meets tea.
2–5/159 Shoreham Road, Red Hill South
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DRINK | Chardonnay, Cider and Other Good Decisions
Lindenderry Estate Cellar Door, Red Hill
At Lindenderry’s cellar door, a tasting quickly turned into a conversation. We began with questions about the vines and ended up debating Chardonnay with the conviction of newly minted experts. The team took it in good humour.
Barney Flanders, also of Garagiste, oversees the estate’s wines. The Chardonnay comes from vines planted more than 30 years ago, with nectarine and brioche in the glass. Pinot Noir grows along the driveway. We’d barely given it a second glance on the way in. By the end of the tasting, we’d become rather invested in its future.
142 Arthurs Seat Road, Red Hill
Polperro, Red Hill
If I could have one outdoor table in Red Hill all to myself, it might be at Polperro. Great Angophora trees stretch across the lawn, and the casual Deck looks over Talland Hill vineyard. No vineyard in Provence could claim those trees.
Order Sam Coverdale’s Pinot Noir with oysters or something from the seasonal grazing menu. The cellar door also hosts seated tastings of Polperro and Even Keel wines.
150 Red Hill Road, Red Hill
Mock Red Hill
For all its wineries, Red Hill has never stopped being apple country. Five generations of the Mock family have grown fruit at Mock Red Hill, where a 1945 cool store has become a cider lounge. The orchards have been farmed biodynamically since 1974. Sip estate cider in the vine-covered courtyard and order the apple pie. This is a working orchard with a cider bar attached, not the other way around.
1103 Mornington-Flinders Road, Red Hill
PLAY | Markets, Art and Orchard Life
Hill & Ridge Community Market, Red Hill
Hill & Ridge Community Market poses a problem for my ceramics habit. More than 200 stalls fill the recreation reserve with local produce, flowers, vintage finds and work by Peninsula makers. The Red Hill Show, first held in 1922, still claims the grounds every March. The calendar belongs to the farmers.
First Saturday of the month, September to May, excluding March
184 Arthurs Seat Road, Red Hill
Montalto Sculpture Trail, Red Hill South
Montalto’s free, kilometre-long sculpture trail takes art among the vines and wetlands. Of its 35 works, Robert Hague’s The Golden Fleece is hard to forget: an enormous fractured souvenir plate, absurd against the surrounding bushland. There’s also Matt Calvert’s glass-and-aluminium Pointing Girl. Follow the boardwalks, then return for wood-fired pizza at the Piazza.
33 Shoreham Road, Red Hill South
Ripe ‘N Ready Cherry Farm, Red Hill
Cherry season generally begins around mid-November, depending on the harvest. At Ripe ‘N Ready Cherry Farm, you can pick your own straight from the trees, a welcome change from supermarket punnets. There’s an entry fee, with cherries to take home charged by the kilo. Check that picking is open before you drive out, wear something that can survive cherry juice and resist eating your entire haul before you reach home.
52 Arkwells Lane, Red Hill
One Last Thing
Red Hill’s orchardists waited decades for their railway. When the first train finally arrived in 1921, hundreds turned out to welcome it. At last, their apples, pears and strawberries had a route to Melbourne’s markets. Just 32 years later, road transport had taken over and the railway was gone. The orchards, old cool stores and farm gates remain. I like that the district has work to do before the first lunch booking arrives.
Back in Melbourne, I have a habit of filling Saturdays until they resemble Thursdays. At Lindenderry, my friend and I walked to the lake and kept talking long after we’d meant to turn back. There were restaurants we never reached, wine we didn’t taste. For once, I didn’t mind leaving a few things undone.
I didn’t see the sea all weekend. I’m still surprised by how little I missed it.
For the coastal counterpart, see our guide to Sorrento. For more reasons to return, bookmark the best restaurants on the Mornington Peninsula and our guide to the best hot springs in Victoria.
Editor’s note: This stay at Lancemore Lindenderry Red Hill was hosted by the hotel. All opinions and recommendations are the writer’s own.
