Blue Devil Cottage. Kid & mountain bike friendly

Situated in the foothills of Mt Alexander, Blue Devil Cottage is the quaint original Victorian farmhouse of Hillside Acres farm. Fully renovated, it is an ideal place for both the energetic and those wishing for a more relaxing holiday. We welcome kids, and can get them & you involved in collecting eggs or feeding pigs. For mountain bikers, you can ride through our back paddocks directly onto the new La Larr Ba Gauwa Mountain bike park - or it’s just two km along the road to the trailhead. Our lovely quaint cottage is entirely yours - two bedrooms, a lounge room, a fully equipped, separate kitchen and a large bathroom. The front veranda overlooks the formal garden and picturesque dam and there is a sheltered back verandah for rainy or hot days. Spend the day exploring the many delights of Central Victoria or just sit on your little veranda, sipping one of the local wines from a dozen nearby wineries, and watch the sun go down as nature whispers around you. For the more energetic, there’s walks galore accessible from the farm, and the mountain bike park is only minutes away. Guest are welcome to wander around the farm as long as they are careful and cautious with their interactions with animals, and don’t go into the pig paddock without supervision. Just make sure you use the gates so you don’t get caught with any of the electric fences! We're happy to chat with you about farm or the local sites or also leave you to the peace and solitude of the location. For the more adventurous we can suggest any number of explorations, along the water channel (circa 1870), into the Mount Alexander nature reserve and Koala park, rock climbing at Dog Rocks, into the Oak Forest with its magical fairy trails, or along the various branches of the Great Dividing trail. For the less ambitious, we can suggest numerous wineries to visit and we neighbour the renowned Henry's of Harcourt cidery, with Bress cidery just down the road. With views out to the Harcourt hills from the veranda and Mount Alexander just behind, Blue Devil Cottage is an ideal base for walking, either gentle strolls around the farm, or serious bush walks into the trails on the Mount. We are only 3 km to the township of Harcourt which has a local shop, post office, outdoor public swimming pool (summer only), service station and heritage centre. We are only about 10 km from the vibrant cafe culture of Castlemaine and 20 minutes drive though the gorgeous granite hills of North Harcourt and Sedgwick to Bendigo - a fantastic ride for the cycling enthusiast. In fact, for the cyclist there are popular road routes through to Bendigo, or Castlemaine, as well as a host of mountain bike adventures to be had right behind the property on Mount Alexander. Hillside Acres is a old fashioned mixed farm. The cottage is set on our 93 acre farm. We have a focus on small-scale, free-range, sustainable, ethically raised meat and there is a small flock of sheep, some Angus cattle and Pepper, our breeding boar, and the sows Kelsie and Crackles, along with possible piglets depending upon when you come. There's also horses, chooks and dogs, as well as an aviary with native finches and small native parrots to complete the menagerie. Oh and kangaroos and echidnas are regular visitors. The majority of the farm is flat or gently sloping but the back 17 acres slope steeply upwards and have been fenced off from stock for biodiversity protection and enhancement. It's a lovely area to wander through if you're up for a bit of a walk, and there's some amazing views from the top. From here, you have direct access to the La Larr Ba Gauwa Mountain Bike Park and Mount Alexander for walking trails. The cottage has been named Blue Devil Cottage because of the iconic Blue Devil native herb found in a few locations on the property (also known as the Star Thistle). You can watch the rural life unfold, or simply use the cottage as a base for exploring the historic goldfields and countryside of Castlemaine and surrounds.