SLOW STAYS

As you roll into Lon Retreat and Spa, the metaphoric hounds of busyness nipping at your heels, the words on the gate, “time to slow down,” set the scene. Because this once cherished family home and farm – with history spanning 150 years and seven generations – stands like a beacon of slow simplicity. The sensitively renovated sandstone structure is perched on 250-acres of working farm and conservation land – where mineral spring waters bubble from limestone caves below the horizon and ships and clouds float gently above it. Take your pick of seven luxurious suites, each named for a different cloud variety, and feel the stress drift away. The seasonal, gourmet in-suite dining and mineral spring waters piped into stone baths help on that front, but the impeccable Lon Spa also beckons with the tantalising promise of complete relaxation. Nature abounds at your doorstep too. Roam close to home picking fruit from Lon’s Food Forest, picnicking on a farm-track tramp, or swimming and snorkelling on the moonah-fringed private beach. At the entrance to Port Phillip Bay, with its famed gastronomic delights, and only minutes from pristine Bellarine Peninsula beaches, picking an adventure will be your biggest burden.