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Published: March 15th 2007
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The Chocolate Mill
Go there - it's excellent! The people are as lovely as the chocolate. Hepburn and its Springs We stayed at the YHA in Hepburn, which is very small and charming (it accommodates maybe 20 people). We went for a double with ensuite, which was superb!! It even had a bath - we've not seen one of them since leaving...don't worry, we've had showers though! We had the hostel all to ourselves...or so we thought.
There are several natural springs in Hepburn that we went to check-out. I was initially a bit disappointed - they didn't look that natural, it had to be said. They've put pumps on the end of them. But actually, once we got the pumps going we sampled some of the water from the dubiously named Sulphur Spring. It tasted quite metalic at first, but was strangely quite tasty! So after playing with the pumps for a while and starting to feel a little guilty about wasting water that Australia can ill afford to be wasted, we headed back to our own big house! It was luxury having the kitchen to oursleves, rather than having to fight for pans and the one and only vaguely sharp knive! Above all, it was clean, which is more than can be said of
Hepburn Springs
Pumping out the natural spring water a number of places.
Unwelcome guests Anyway, we soon discovered we weren't as alone as we originally thought...I discovered our first and second Huntsmen spiders on the wall opposite our room. At one point, when Sally made me go back to the room for something, I was just turning the door handle as I became aware of one of the spiders heading my way fast! So I picked up the door stop and launched it, getting a direct hit. Or so I thought. The damn thing was super fast and dodged the missile (but I didn't let Sally know that bit until the next day. As far as she was concerned, there was now 'only' 1 big grey one remaining).
The Chocolate Mill We were planning to try one of the Spas the next day but I was quite ill. Bad enough to have to find a Doctor the next day for some antibiotics, after resisiting for a couple of days. We had to wait a couple of hours to see him, although I thought we were lucky just to walk in and get an appointment, as you wouldn't get that in the UK. We scrapped our original plan and settled on going to the Chocolate Mill instead.
The Chocolate Mill is just north of Daylesford and handmakes all the fillings that go into their chocolates. They only sell the chocolates from their shop as no additives or preservatives go into the chocolates so they don't keep very long. Of course, the flip side to this is that they are all very fresh. After we watched them making the chocolates and read all about how it came to be, Sally just had to buy some to try. This included a chilli chocolate, cinnamon, ginger and chilli chocolate. The latter sounds disgusting but Sally assures me it was actually very nice and is based on the way the Aztecs used to eat their chocolate. . We also went to their cafe as Sally insisted on sampling their hot chocolate which was made with hot liquid chocolate and foaming milk - delicious for all those chocoholics!!
Lovely locals The Daylesford area seemed to be a little off the well trodden backpackers route - I guess it maybe difficult to get to without a hire car. But it was well and truly worth the trip, just to go to the Chocolate Mill - which even I as a non-Choc eater, would highly recommend just to learn about and see how it is made. The smell as you walk in is fantastic! The area itself is a great place to come and relax. Above all, the people here were so nice where ever we went. Almost too nice(!) : we had lunch in Rhubarb, where the lady, when asked where the toilet was explained "it's a wee walk round the back". When I commented on this she said, "I was going to say I'll point you in the right direction...!". Great place to stop for food, a hugely entertaining and friendly host plus some great food awaits you here! Likewise, the lady (wish we'd got her name, can only narrow it down to the Trainee) who greeted us in the Chocolate Mill was lovely, as was everyone else here - taking time out to explain the whole chocolate making process.
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