A Spring Getaway in Victoria, 90 Minutes From Melbourne: As Seen in ESCAPE
There's a photograph on page 34 of this week's Escape Magazine (27 September 2026 issue) that I keep going back to. Two people at Loggers Lookout, one at the rail and one on the bench seat, looking across the valley toward Mount Baw Baw with the bush falling away below them. A glass of red in hand.
I've stood in that exact spot with a morning coffee more times than I can count. Seeing it in a national magazine was a real pinch-me moment. When you're a small business doing most of it yourself, a feature like this is quiet confirmation that you're doing something right. I'll be basking in the glow of this for at least a month, which means Neil finally gets some time off from me asking him to rate my hosting five stars.
The Ridge House is featured in Escape Magazine's14 Relaxing Rural Escapes, a spring feature by Constantina Demos that ran in News Corp papers around Australia. We're a four-bedroom country retreat on 50 private acres at Yarragon South in West Gippsland, 90 minutes from Melbourne, and one of three Victorian stays on a list that spans six states.
What Escape saw
Constantina starts where our story starts, with Green Hills Farm next door. That's the 150-acre working farm Neil and I bought in 2015, two years before The Ridge House came up for sale. It's home to our grass-fed Black Angus cattle, spray-free garlic, orchard and kitchen garden.
She calls The Ridge House a secluded retreat, and she's right. There are no other dwellings on our 50 acres.
Barry, who stayed with us a couple of weeks before the article came out, had already beaten Escape to it.
"The house itself is set up to ooze comfort in every room and is magazine ready." — Barry, September 2026
She also mentions farm tours, which deserves a word of honesty. We don't advertise scheduled farm tours because this is our home as well as our business, but if we're around we're always delighted to share it. If you'd like the longer version of how the farm and the house fit together, I wrote about it in There's More to The Ridge House Than What's Inside the Fence.
One small note for anyone reading the list closely (I'm a stickler for detail, it's a known condition). We're in Yarragon South, about 10 minutes from Yarragon village, and the house suits two of you just as well as it suits eight.
A spring getaway in Victoria, right now
For a weekend getaway from Melbourne, spring is my favourite time to be here. The days are getting longer, the bush is green and the walking tracks have had a winter's worth of rain.
Wildflowers are coming out along the trails, and the Tramway Track, which follows the route of the original 1880s logging tramway, winds through fern gullies still lush from winter. It's roughly a kilometre return: walk until you reach the neighbour's fence, then turn around. It's a raw bush trail, so bring decent walking shoes.
The Tall Timbers Trail is steeper and more of a workout, and it's the one I'd pick after a week at a desk.
Spring also means the echidnas are out and about. We see them all over the property, so keep your eyes open around the house and on the trails. They're surprisingly easy to miss with their heads buried in the undergrowth. Barry, a recent guest, stood still long enough for one to pop up its cute little face, and got the photo below.
If you want a bigger walk off the property, the Noojee Trestle Bridge is about 45 minutes away. At 21 metres high and stretching 102 metres through the forest, it's the tallest surviving wooden trestle bridge in Victoria. The original bridge was built in 1919, destroyed by fire in 1939 and rebuilt the same year.
Pair it with the easy 2.2km loop to Amphitheatre Falls, then stop at the Little Red Duck Cafe in Noojee on the way back. By the time you're home at The Ridge House, the deck is waiting and the afternoon light is just starting to soften over the valley.
That's the rhythm I'd suggest for a spring stay here. Out walking in the morning, back to the ridge by the afternoon, and nowhere you need to be after that.
The Milky Way over the roof
The line I love most in the article is the last one. On clear evenings, Constantina writes, "the Milky Way stretches right over the roof." Guests have been telling us the same thing for years.
"On a clear night you could see the Milky Way and constellations across the sky." — Leanda, June 2026
Turn off the deck lights, give your eyes a few minutes to adjust, and wait. I wrote a whole post on stargazing at The Ridge House, including how to photograph the night sky on an iPhone, if you want to come prepared.
Escape now sits alongside Country Style, The Weekend Australian, OAK Magazine and the Life Unhurried book on a shelf I never expected to have. When Escape publishes the list online, I'll link the full article here. In the meantime, there's a snapshot of the page above. Me, I might pop down to Loggers Lookout this evening and recreate that photo. Here's to shining a little light on this corner of West Gippsland, and to a few more of you knowing it's here. The morning coffee swapped for a glass of local wine, raised to the valley surrounded by birdsong and sunset. .
If a spring getaway in Victoria sounds good, book direct with The Ridge House for our best rate, and with me on the other end of your booking.
Continue Exploring Gippsland
A few more places to start if you're planning a stay:
Stargazing at The Ridge House: dark skies, the Aurora Australis and night photography on your phone
There's More to The Ridge House Than What's Inside the Fence: the hives, the garlic and the cattle on the farm next door
Where to Eat Dinner in Yarragon and Warragul: A Local's Guide: Messmates, Hogget Kitchen and how to get home without driving
Did You See Us in Country Style Magazine?: our first big feature, from June 2021
