April 2025 in regional Victoria
April 2025, and on a first visit to Daylesford in country Victoria. It is a country town with not a lot to distinguish it from many other country towns in Victoria and NSW.
Somewhere in its past it was most likely a hive of activity being a centre for the rural activity – and add into that the gold rushes of the 19th century.
Its main street has many fine older buildings with very little later 20th century bland architecture. As with most of these country towns, the higher parts of the buildings remind us of former architectural aspirations – whereas most shop fronts below are very ordinary.
One little surprise was to see a real branch of the Commonwealth Bank – with its 80s style building still in operation. Although this style has nothing to do with the heritage style of the buildings all around it.
The real surprise was that this town still has a real and active branch of this bank.
Then there are the curiosities, such as this sign reminding parents not to leave children in the car. 
A sale sign outside a church – I think selling some church land rather than the church itself. Daylesford has a lot of churches around this hill.
Meanwhile ion the suburbs there are all sorts of houses – with many up for rent for holiday accommodation – such as the one we hired for a couple of days.
The one below has its own personality – and is also available for holiday rentals.
Here’s a few pics from a walk around streets close by where we stayed.
We had a reason to stay here and then to travel up to Castlemaine.
We no longer choose to stay in Castlemaine as the accommodation is ‘not good’ to put it politely – especially in colder weather when the atmospheric and heritage style cottages cottages are freezing!
And they still charge heaps for the pleasure of being uncomfortable and cold!
As for Daylesford, there are signs that people come here to visit the Hepburn Springs – and after that I cannot see what the attraction is.
Daylesford is quiet country town that most likely provides heaps for those who like a regional country lifestyle. Such a country lifestyle remains a choice for many – and for some it is an economic choice.
But as a tourist destination – it is just one more country town maybe with an interesting past – but not a lot to offer today to visitors.
At the first cafe (within a hotel) that we went to for a late breakfast , the person serving seemed to resent being asked how we were to order*. We solved his problem by leaving.
The next cafe was satisfactory with the range of food being the same as most contemporary cafes. Coffee was good. The meal being OK. The picture at the top was the view out the window onto the main street.
Mysteriously Daylesford does not have a regional art gallery. There are a few commercial galleries but no publicly funded regional gallery. The nearest being Ballarat in one direction – and Castlemaine and Bendigo in the other.
We may return and use the town as a base to visit nearby places.
then there is the other view of Daylesford/ Hepburn Springs
and the tourist information – click here
very curious about the Health Giving, Radio-Active Mineral Water
- a footnote: cafes that still use the QR code on the table should be avoided whenever possible or instead insist on placing your order directly. If you use the QR code system you need to be aware that there’s a good chance that you will have given your phone details to an agency that collects and sells on customer’s data.
Ours was a short visit to see what there is to offer as well as to do a couple of things with friends. We are aware that many people probably use the town and facilities for weddings and other events for that ‘authentic’ country experience – whatever that is.
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Based on our short visit, and assessing it as a place to visit, Daylesford for me rated two and half stars out of five.