New tour to celebrate Beechworth’s botanical treasures

For those who like a dash of history mixed with their horticulture a new tour launching this weekend will offer a perfect introduction to the botanical treasures of one of Australia’s best preserved heritage towns.

The new Beechworth Town and Country Walks and Tours will take in some of Beechworth’s most significant public and private gardens and reserves, offering visitors fascinating insights into the people who created them, original designs and plantings – including some 14 trees of significance listed on the National Tree Register - and the gardens’ continuing evolution to the present day.

The new tours will complement the Historic & Cultural Precinct’s Ned Kelly and Gold walking tours led by expert guides which have become a must for tourists to the area. Visitors can also take part in Historic Courthouse tours and talks, the wildly popular Ghost Tours of historic Mayday Hills Lunatic Asylum and Historic Beechworth mini-bus tours led by historian, Pat Doyle.

Chris Dormer, a passionate gardener, artist and former Beechworth Burke Museum programs officer is the brains behind the new Town & Country Walks and Tours. Her own piece of paradise, in the hilltop village of Stanley a few kilometres from Beechworth, has featured in the Victorian Open Garden Scheme.

Each Saturday at 2pm, departing from the Beechworth Visitor Information Centre, she will take visitors on an hour-long Public Gardens Walk, including the formal ‘pleasure gardens’ of the Town Hall, part of the Historic & Cultural Precinct, planned and planted in 1874 by Richard Hurlock Jenkyns.

Developed in the Gardenesque style, the gardens quickly became a fashionable place for locals and visitors to use the wide paths for promenading, a band rotunda for concerts, and the fountain to enjoy the sounds of the cool cascading water on hot summer nights. The gardens were planted with trees including the towering Sierra Redwoods (Sequoiadendron Giganteum) seen today which were grown by Baron Ferdinand Von Mueller, Director of the Melbourne Botanical Gardens.

The tour also takes in the cultivated wilderness of the Botanical Reserve, now Victoria Park, gazetted in 1856. A competition to design the park was won by a Hungarian Count, J A Rochlitz, whose romantic vision of groves of acacia, almond and walnut trees, an open belvedere, an archery ground, cricket and boxing grounds, a children’s playground and an ‘Invalid’s’ Corner’ was never implemented. The design does live on, however, in a beautiful watercolour painted by C. Martin, part of the permanent collection of the Burke Museum.

Lake Sambell Reserve, created as a result of Beechworth’s success in the Ideal Town competition in 1928, and now home to the new Chinese Gardens, is also on the itinerary. This exciting new garden remembers the thousands of Chinese people who flocked to the rich goldfields of early Beechworth.
A variety of tours will also be offered by Chris Dormer by arrangement including visits to a selection of magnificent privately owned gardens as well as a ‘Backyard to Farm Gate’ tour of Beechworth and district’s great productive gardens.

FULL DETAILS AND BOOKINGS FOR THIS AND OTHER GREAT
BEECHWORTH TOURS AT: www.beechworthonline.com.au
PHONE 1300 366 321

It’s all happening for the Beechworth Chinese Cultural Centre & Gardens Inc

We are happy to say that yes the items are finally being shipped out this month

* Two Bridges for the Garden
* It's not a Chinese Garden without Buddah
* 5 Lanterns set to go in Bamboo walk in Chinese Gardens Beechworth by the Pavilion

This month the Museum has been opened for 5 yrs (and boy what a road)

With having put on six festivals with the first only one week after the 2003 bush fires with the help of the Lake Sambell Committee.

Awards that we have received awards for:

* Tidy Town 2001 .2002 .2003
* Sustainability award sub surface irrigation system
* Victorian awards for excellence in Multicultural affairs
* Victorian History award Commendation BCCC&G
* Personal award for 10 years service for volunteering in Multi Cultural affairs

The Gardens has seen many Chinese visitors to Beechworth we have also

* sponsored the Chinese Lion team to come to Beechworth for Easter for the past three years
* Sponsored the Beechworth Chinese cemetery book written and translated by Dr Kok
* The BCCC has seen many school groups over the past 5 years who have all enjoy the different aspect of Beechworth and enjoy finding out what animal sign they are.

Beechworth’s Chinese Museum is dedicated to the preservation & display of Chinese History in the Ovens and District Goldfields
The Centre also has items for sale that are that little bit different to help support both the Gardens and the Museum

Where are… the Barkers?

Where are… the Barkers? DVD is now available at the Beechworth Visitor
Infomation Centre for $5.00

Donations to Wooragee Landcare will help the preservation of the Barkers habitat

Your support is greatly appreciated

Spring time in Beechworth

Many thanks to Jim Didolis for his photo of the Red Rosellas in the trees at the front of Freeman On Ford B&B. Spring is certainly in the air. Kerry

Age Good Food Guide gong for Provenance

Beechworth’s new kid on the gastronomic block, Provenance, has been named Best New Country Restaurant of the Year by The Age Good Food Guide 2010.

Michael Ryan, the mastermind behind The Age 2008 Country Restaurant of the Year, the two chef hat Range restaurant in Myrtleford, opened Provenance Restaurant & Luxury Suites early this year in one of Beechworth’s finest historic gold era buildings, the 1856 Bank of Australasia next to the Historic and Cultural Precinct. With six metre ceilings and towering arched windows, the bank’s original granite vault now houses the wine cellar. Accommodation at Provenance comprises four newly refurbished luxury suites in what was once the old stables and carriage house.

The prestigious Age Good Food Guide accolade, announced in Melbourne last night, further reinforces Beechworth’s reputation as a gourmet travel destination. The impressive line-up of local dining options also includes the renowned and much awarded Warden’s Food & Wine, Gigi’s, and The Stanley in the picturesque hilltop village of Stanley a few kilometres out of town.

Add to that list the award-winning boutique brewery, Bridge Road Brewers whose owners Ben and Maria Kraus offer a great range of hand-crafted ales as well as sensational home-made pretzels and gourmet pizzas.

Also new to Beechworth this year is the boutique fromagerie, Larder, whose new owners, Jade Miles and Gina Bladon have added a chocalaterie showcasing superb locally made Renaissance Chocolates from Rutherglen as well as Kennedy & Wilson from the Yarra Valley. The pair is passionate about bringing the best of local, regional and international cheese and chocolate to the area and offer a gourmet hamper selection for visitors heading for the great outdoors.

North East gets set to party as Spring Migration celebrates change of season

Victoria’s gorgeous North East is getting ready to frock up and hit the dance floor with the return this weekend of one of regional Australia’s favourite Gay & Lesbian events, Spring Migration.

Now in its fifth year, the 2009 festival has grown from a weekend event in Yackandandah to a week-long celebration taking place around the region.

Spring Migration 2009 kicks off this Friday 28 August with three days of fun at Falls Creek including a masquerade ball and snow carnival. From Tuesday 1 to Thursday 3 September, the party continues at Lake Hume Resort with a packed program of activities, tours and parties.

Then on Friday 4 and Saturday 5 September Indigo Shire welcomes Spring Migration to Beechworth. The Saturday night La Luna full moon dance party at La Trobe promises to be a highlight of this year’s event with glamorous Sydney entertainer, Vanessa Wagner, as special guest emcee. DJs, drag shows, special guest performers and dancers, food and full bar will also feature at this sensational closing night festival party.

The annual Who’s Yer Daddy Father’s Day Market in Yackandandah on Sunday 6 September will bring Spring Migration 2009 to a close.

Now one of regional Australia’s most popular Gay & Lesbian events, Spring Migration prides itself on its inclusiveness, offering everyone, regardless of their sexuality, a varied and fun program that also showcases this area’s regional delights.

BEECHWORTH OKTOBERFEST 2009

Beechworth craft-brewery Bridge Road Brewers is hosting its fifth annual Oktoberfest. Located in the heart of town, this small brewery has a swag of awards to its name, and is ready for this years celebration of beer and music to be a craker. The event is loosley based around the original Oktoberfest held in Munich in late September each year.

Brewery founders, Ben Kraus and his partner Maria Frischmann, have strong links to the Oktoberfest. Maria hails from the heart of the Tyrol region in Austria and has worked as a beir-maid at the Munich Oktoberfest. Ben gained his brewing knowledge in the same region and has been brewing the Bridge Road beers for a little over four years. The brewery has come a long way from its origins in the family garage where the business spent its first year. Its relocation to an old coach house in Beechworth’s centre has proven a success. The brewery has been able to expand its range of beers, currently nine, and increase its production capacity by 30% each year.

A special one off batch of Marzen beer has been brewed for this year’s event. Aptly named Oktoberfest Marzen, this deep orange coloured lager is the same style traditionally served at Munich’s Oktoberfest.

The Brewery has recently acquired an adjoining building that is the ideal venue for this years event. Beechworth’s 2009 Oktoberfest will be held on Sat 10th and Sun 11th of October, from 11am till 6pm. October is also the breweries official beer month, with other events being planned for October including a beer degustation evening and special brewing events.

Visitors are encouraged to get out the Lederhosen or Dirndl (traditional Bavarian dress) and enjoy the festivities. This family weekend will include children’s activities, plenty of beer, German cuisine and fun for all with a traditional ohm-pah band belting out some great drinking tunes.

Oktoberfest Entertainment will be provided by Alpine Cocktail, specialists in German ohm-pah music, with vocalist Rene hailing from Vienna, Austria.

The Beechworth Oktoberfest will be held at Bridge Road Brewers, off Ford St, behind Tanswells Hotel, rear access from High st. It will be held between 11am and 6pm on Sat 11th and Sun 12th of October.

For further inquiries please contact Ben or Maria, or drop in to Bridge Road Brewers.

Bridge Road Brewers
The Old Coach House,
Ford St. Beechworth Victoria 3747.
p. 03 57282703 m. 0422929235 e. info@bridgeroadbrewers.com.au