Gorgeously restored Caboose On A Vineyard

Train carriage in Drummond North, Macedon Ranges, VIC, AU
100% Recommended•
2 people
No pets
Snug up in our beautifully converted train caboose overlooking our vineyard and the undulating ‘Belltoper' forest beyond, located outside the lovely village of Malmsbury in the Macedon Ranges on Dja Dja Wurrung Country.

Originally a 1950’s Melbourne ‘red rattler’ guardsman’s carriage, our self-contained renovated caboose sleeps up to two people and is the perfect place to get your nature hit whilst staying on a regenerative vineyard and working winery. Or come solo and spend time curled up with a book, doing some writing or exploring the Macedon Ranges. Check out some of our reviews to see how others have loved staying.

We will welcome you with a complimentary bottle of wine from our cellar door (valued at around $30) so you can cosy up and enjoy all that the picturesque Macedon Ranges has to offer. And we'd love for you to pop over and experience a tasting when the cellar is open. If you'd like a picnic box for your arrival from our partner Daylesford Gourment, (who also do breakfast boxes), just let us know.

The caboose has a fully equipped little kitchenette, ensuite bathroom with a shower, and a super comfy queen bed with SA Minijumbuk wool doonas and beautiful linen sheets. The small deck outside has recently been covered so you can enjoy a glass of vino without the sun on you overlooking the vineyard, or curl up under a blanket staring at the wide open night sky in front of the caboose. At certain times of the year you'll hear the owls and the frogs at night singing their lullaby to you, and it’s a great spot to watch the moon rise.

We recommend you bring your slippers, as the mornings up in the Macedon Ranges can be chilly even in summer, but we supply beautiful dressing gowns and the caboose is very cosy. Slippers just top off the experience!

It's a truly unplugged experience as we don't yet have Wi-fi (this is a work in progress due to the thickness of the train's steel walls!) There's generally good service though, particularly for Telstra.

We are a 5 minute drive from the quaint village of Malmsbury (where there's a bakery, a general store and a few lovely little shops), and only 15 minutes from Kyneton. Or head to Daylesford or Trentham or a host of other incredible places to explore in the other direction.

If we are in vintage (around March/April), you're welcome to come and see the winemaking process or what we are up to in the vineyard. We just ask folks to not going into the vines without our permission due to disease risk to the vines. But you're otherwise welcome to meander the property (20 acres all up) or we can give you some tips to do things locally. And just a reminder that we are a working winery so there is machinery, sheds and barrels etc. about that are out of bounds....
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Features and Amenities

1 bedroom
1 bed
1 bathroom
Air conditioning
Heating
Indoor fireplace

Details

  • Check in after 03:00pm
    Check out before 12:00pm
  • Weekday minimum booking: 2 nights
    Weekend minimum booking: 2 nights
Cancellation Policy: 

Receive a full refund (minus service fee) up until 1 week prior to check-in.

Additional Information

We live and work on the property (with the exception of most the months of June-August when we work overseas but the caboose is still available to book then). However, your caboose is fully self-contained, and with your own parking and entrance.

Please just let us know if you’d like to check in a little earlier.

The cellar door is near to the accommodation so you may hear people enjoying a glass on the deck or the lawn near to the caboose during busier times. However we are a small boutique cellar door and so never have big tours or rowdy groups!

The cellar is open Thursday to Monday from 11-5 all year round except during winter when we are open Friday -Sunday.

Please note that if very severe weather is predicted or a severe fire day, we may have to cancel your booking. This is just because the storms /winds in the Macedon ranges can be very strong with trees coming down etc and at those times, or on fire risk days, we go out of our way to keep everyone on our farm safe. We of course won’t do this unless we absolutely have to.

We also have two young kids who you may hear occasionally but the property is big and in general very quiet and peaceful (especially at night) with the exception of a bit of noise now and again around the winery but this is fairly rare.

Tours - fancy getting more stuck into the winemaking process as part of your stay? If you’d like a tour of the vineyard and winery or an experience such as barrel tasting please let us know and for a small additional fee we can arrange it as a gift or add on....

Prices

  • Base Price $215 / night
  • Cleaning Fee $45
  • Discounts 
    15% discount for bookings of 5 nights or longer

Finding fulfillment

Based on traveller reviews, these are the top fulfilling moments experienced while staying here. Learn more

Peacefulness

Rejuvenation

Slowness

Reviews (57)

100% Recommended

Host

Harriet
Harriet
Email Verified
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Drummond North VIC 3446, Australia
2Listings
Our family of four reside and work on the farm at Zig Zag Rd, which is on Dja Dja Wurrung Country in the Macedon Ranges. Both Henry and I make the wine and grow the grapes, and share the parenting and raising of our two young sons (Albert and Wilbur). It's a pretty magical place to be and we are so grateful to be the latest stewards of the vineyard which was planted in 1972, so 50 years ago. We are both originally from the UK and before we moved to the Macedon Ranges from Melbourne, we were doing different roles in corporate sustainability. But we longed to get our feet into the soil, and now we regularly get them into a vat of grapes! Our whole philosophy and approach to stuff we do on the farm is about working and celebrating the incredible community around us, and we'd love for those who come to the caboose to be a part of that in some way. We try to go overseas for June - August every year (covid depending) to be with family and work on our love of wine overseas (not just drinking it...) Other than winemaking and farming, we love hiking, camping and adventuring, all of which doesn't happen much these days with kids and the vineyard, but we can recommend some good spots to explore in the region all the same!…
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Outdoor Equipment Provided

Enjoy the outdoors with the following equipment included in your stay.

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$215per night
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$215per night
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