"The People are so Friendly"

Last Tuesday the Cool Country Classic Car Club took their cars to our aged care facility for the residents to enjoy our cars as much as we do. Earlier I went for a coffee in town and while Celeste (my demure Citroen) was parked in the street, I was questioned by a couple about her. They are currently visiting with the prospect of buying some land to build in Trentham. Today I met them again (twice actually). 
They have spent the last four days enjoying our town. 
We chatted for awhile and I then asked them the all important question - "What has intrigued you most about Trentham". The answer was as I expected - "The people are so friendly". 
I hope they find what they are looking for.

We have a great car club here in Trentham - the population of the town is about 1400 but our car club has 110 members and we get approx 30 members to our general meetings. We are meeting many like-minded locals through the car, foodie, garden, petanque groups in this intimate village.

Time and Commerce moves on.

There was a time when Trentham became a logging town - that is when not so further afield that the gold ran out. There was much mining for the precious metal no more than 10 to 15 kms away towards Blackwood. My last post mentioned the Trentham railway which was where the logging was transported to for shipment to Melbourne. As time went by, the area would reinvent itself.

Gold mining, logging, then potato growing and now tourism.

Wood logging in Trentham area

Mining in Blue Mount Rd, Trentham

Du Fermier of Trentham

Trentham for it size "punches well above it's weight" as the say goes. For a village on the last census had a population of 1400 people, we are so fortunate with our facilities. On the social side, we have five excellent cafes, four eating establishments - pubs/restaurants. One of these is Annie Smither's Du Fermier which is a one hat restaurant. It seems to be always full every dat it's open. We've eaten there once and let me tell you, once is not enough.
It is based of French Farmhouse style with an excellent wine list, local district plus a good stock of French wines.

I found this small insight to Annie's philosophy on food, our district's produce and a little on her past history within the industry. If you are ever in Trentham, make sure you book well in advance.

BILL POSTERS - Who is he?

Some people have a great sense of humour - don't they?

While strolling along the main street in Trentham I noticed these two pieces of Whimsy.

There's a fair bit of development happening in Trentham over recent years. This is one of very few vacant shops and should soon reopen as it is a prime position in the main street. Around the corner a new complex will be built with some further shops and offices and a community centre (watch this space)
Beside the complex are three new homes being built, one of which will belong friends of ours.
Trendy Trentham is growing.

RAIN, RAIN and more RAIN

Last week we had snow, this week its just rained and rained but the land can use it. The creek at the end of the property hasn't flowed so well for the last 2 years the locals tell us. The ducks are loving it and the frogs are croaking with happiness. We are so fortunate that the builder has poured the concrete slab before the rains came.

We had visitors up from Melbourne today and we took lunch at the Collective Cafe with winter soup. They told us that they visited Trentham Falls before catching up with us so we took a quick visit to see the result of the recent heavy rainfalls.

Our creek joins with the Coliban River before flowing over Trentham Falls.

Under the falls is a cave - can you see it?

Only today we met a neighbour walking her dog down our street and we introduced ourselves and she asked the question - how did you choose Trentham as a home. We said we didn't, it chose us to which she exclaimed, "then you belong here". It was cold today but her comment made us warm.

TRENTHAM'S SPUD FEST

Last Saturday we experienced our first Spud Fest that Trentham holds each year. The area is well known for growing potatoes and each year this small town with a population of 1400 swells with an influx of 4000 people for the day. It's a great family affair with events to suit all. Food and produce stalls are set up where you can buy a variety of potatoes or if peckish, you can buy the cook variety in its  many forms. We wanted to try the spirals however the wait in line was very long.

The local CFA fire truck was used to block of the street.

Potatoes of all kind on sale. Many tried a variety to take home.

We missed out on the potato spirals - the queue was just too long

They even offer advice on what is best suited.

Early potato harvesting machinery - still transported in hessian bags.
We will collect a few of these and have them framed for our Alfresco area of the house.

Accommodation for out in the fields

Some of the workers cottages still exist in the paddocks

The kid's loved moving amongst a special enclosure with baby farm animals.
This area is popular for Alpaca and these little guys were lavished with much patting.
Joining them were lambs, chooks, rabbits and guinea pigs.

Spud Fest is not just about potatoes though. The disused railway station is used for Trentham's monthly food and craft market which on this occasion coincided with Spud Fest. We also have a car club in Trentham known as the Cool Country Car Club and not to be left out of Spud Fest, they put on an exhibition of around 50 cars.

The Austin 1800 Land Crab - the utility model was very popular in Australia

Contrasts in the world of cars

Another attraction was the Tractor Pull competition. Now we have never been to one of these previously but it seems that many of the small towns in the area have them regularly. Once the concept of the competition was explained to us, we became quite interested and found ourselves, clapping and shouting encouragement.

The tank behind the tractor is full of water and as is is pull by the tractor, the tank digs deeper into the earth.
There's a gauge on the tank that is graduated in 5s to 100. The object is to reach 100 before the tractor can pull no longer.

Once the competing tractor finishes, another drags the tank back to the start for the next competitor.
Earth is graded flat prior.

Other than the tractor pull, there were also other exhibits from the days when the train would run from Daylesford to Woodend with Trentham being a major station for transporting potatoes and timber to Melbourne - but that's another story for another day. I need to visit the local historic society for some research on those early days.

I think we will enjoy this Country Life once we have our house built and we settle in Trentham.

Footnote on the house:
It seems that we may finally get to the final stages of signing off plans and the building contract before the end of this week. It has been a slow process to this stage however we have seen a few houses from the same builder in our area and once construction starts, build time seems quick.
Here's hoping.

Tin House near Trentham

The Tin House we discovered on a drive from Trentham after showing friends our block. That is after we had a glass of bubbles (Sue) and a full bodied stout (me) at our favourite drinking spot (the Colibban Food Store).

The Tin House is on a road that we have not previously travelled before but that's the intrigue of the Central Highlands of Victoria - every new road is a new discovery. Again I played with the settings on the iPhone for the close up shots of Tin House. Just love those rusty tones on corrugated tin - Iconic Australian Bush.

The property was under guard by this RAM protecting his harem. He stared at me with that "are you feeling lucky punk" look. Time to move on I thought.

Ewe Lookin' at me?

Renovators Opportunity

Behind the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Trentham, there's a hidden piece of history. A building that survived the fire that almost destroyed the hotel, sits quietly nearby on the same property. You see it as you wander out to the beer garden.

The Rains Came

It was only yesterday morning I noticed that the Campaspe River was just a trickle and the land in the area being parched after weeks of hot summer weather with temperatures reaching 40C plus. This morning the rains came. Hopefully there will be enough to start the river flowing again and add some green to the area.

The rain over Victoria after a heat wave over the last two weeks.

In contrast to the rains, only yesterday I did a short early morning ride (the day's temperature was mid 30s) to beat the heat. I saw the sun rise around 6.30 am through the trees and and in the far distant horizon were the rises of Hanging Rock and Mt Macedon.

To the very left is the rocky outcrop of Hanging Rock and rising to the right  is Mt Macedon.

It was only a few days ago, a friend sent me some very early photos of the town where our block of land is. Trentham's early attraction was their falls, supposedly the highest in all of Victoria. We took a visit to the falls last Friday and like the Campaspe River, it was just a trickle. The creek that runs at the back of our property is Trent Creek and runs into the Coliban River which in turn is the source of the waterfall you see below. It is a major source of water that supplies many of the surrounding towns as it runs to the dams of  the Upper Coliban, Lauriston, and Mamsbury and then meets up with the Campaspe River at Lake Eppalock.
I knew nothing of this little river that begins its 89 km journey starting virtually on our doorstep near Trentham.

Trentham Falls, most probably taken in the early 1900s

The Coliban River that flows through Victoria's Central Highlands - again probably from the  early 1900s.

Friday visit to Trentham

Friday we took a visit to Trentham to see a builder and to wander around our plot of land. Our meeting was at 11.00 am at the local "Red Beard Bakery" which is situated down a small walkway. Sue loves their bread and is willing to spend what they ask for their artisan product.

As you can see from the photo, Trentham is gateway to the Wombat Forest. 

Trentham's past is known for its early gold mining and later its timber industry hence the railway to transport timber to the city.

After the meeting with the builder, we now know that we need to interview many more possible builders before deciding who will best suit us and our budget. We took a drive to the block to see what trees might need to be removed and then took a short walk to the creek that runs at the back of the council reserve that we back on to. It's so peaceful. The creek is known as Trent Creek and people use it for a relaxing route to the main street that runs through to the village centre.
On our short walk we met the local duck family - once we move in, Sue suggested that the local duck population may just dwindle. She loves cooking duck.

The residents that have property like ours, extend the visual ownership by mowing the council reserve for their own enjoyment.

Normally we have lunch at the Plough Hotel which has an excellent menu, service and ambiance. This time we thought we would give the Cosmopolitan Hotel a chance. They are two entirely different establishments. The Plough brings a bit of city cuisine to Trentham where the Cosmo is good old fashion Aussie pub food in a real country atmosphere. They both have their place in Trentham and its good that being so different to each other, they really don't compete within the same market.

A stroll down the main street took us into the small shops that cater both for the tourism and local crowd. There was a great eclectic shop selling all manner of gift ware, clothing, furniture and so many unrelated items that it took your eye through the many corridors and rooms with wonderment. Sue bought a set of five huge metal keys to hang on our wall at home.

The next shop was a book shop that would rival any other in Melbourne. Dr B's Bookstore (Brenda) runs creative writing workshops as well and told us that they are now building their home in Trentham by the straw bale method.

By this time we were coming to the end of our day in Trentham when Sue said that we have never visited the Trentham Railway Station which along with the Trentham Falls (a future post) is one of the tourist attractions of Trentham. So we took a drive to the station before heading back home to Melbourne. The drive to the edge of Melbourne CBD takes not much more than 1 hour with a speed limit of 110 kph - its once you hit the CBD and continue on to Mentone, "Our Home by the Bay" that you compete with the rest of the automobile fixated population. It takes almost the same time in peak hour(s) traffic from Melbourne CBD to home.

Trentham is becoming more familiar and comfortable to us with each visit.

Its a nice place to be.