WE NEEDED a break, like, yesterday, so decide on a last-minute weekend getaway to unwind.
Our rubric is that it doesn’t mean hours of driving to reach our retreat.
And the wildcard is that our dog, Panda, tags along and is treated as a member of the family – if a slightly scruffy one at that.
We draw a blank until I remember Spicers at Hidden Vale where I had often thrown caution to the wind there on one of the 120 kilometres of mountain bike trails.
At last, I would get to discover what lay behind those dusty tracks and up that cloistered hill.
A 40-minute drive later and we find ourselves driving into the sweeping driveway off Mount Mort Road and receiving the very warmest of welcomes at reception.
Minutes later, we head to the farmhouse kitchen-style restaurant The Barn for some lunch.
As we eat, a tantalising hint of fire smoke and eucalypt dances on the breeze, and we finally begin to relax.
Panda, meanwhile, seems hypnotised by the aroma from the fire that two chefs are coaxing.
Lunch complete and we head to the accommodation for our brief stay at the Chinese Cottage.
Framed by a luminescent bougainvillea bush, the detached cottage comes with a private courtyard and is one of 34 choices of lodges which you can stay at here.
Originally a station worker’s cottage, it was the office of a prior owner of the farmstead in the early 20th Century, A.J. Cotton.
Cotton’s son, Sidney, was apparently the real-life inspiration for Ian Fleming’s Secret Agent 007, James Bond.
Sidney had met Fleming while working for British Naval Intelligence, with the British author observing Cotton’s passion for risk-taking and hi-tech gadgetry.
Later, we meet Chef Luke Wakefield at the Market Garden, where he guides us through the ethos behind the menu that fuels the centrepiece of the estate, the Homage restaurant.
The Market Garden provides Homage with much of its bounty of garden-fresh vegetables, herbs and fruits.
Luke says Homage is so named because it honours the land and its people, as well as the traditional methods of cooking – from fire, smoke, preserving and fermenting.
“Our aim is to celebrate local producers and to continually seek out new foods,” Luke says.
“I love nothing more than to hear on the grapevine about someone down the road who is growing food no one else can get their hands on.
“That way, we find niche products, like the roosters on the menu that are a byproduct of hen production which would otherwise go to crocodile farms.
“Essentially, it is about simplifying what we do here, doing fewer things, more naturally, and which are of the highest calibre.
“We stay true to our word – if we say we will cook something over fire we might do that for 10 hours.
“Our staff are in a constant discovery phase in the kitchen with dialogue on food that allows for hyper-creativity.”
So, perhaps that explains why Homage recently took out four of the top awards for restaurant excellence in southeast Queensland this year.
Set upon 12,000 acres with a chocolate-box backdrop of rolling hills, the estate offers guided bushwalks and koala tours, 4WD expeditions, mountain biking, helicopter rides and otherworldly views over the Liverpool Ranges from the lap pool.
But we take the easy option and plump for a late afternoon wine and cheese tasting session in the restaurant.
From here, on the veranda, we sample full-bodied Chardonnays, dessert-sweet Rieslings, and a fruit-forward Negroamaro from Tamborine Mountain’s Witches Falls winery.
These are paired with a persuasive triple cream brie, a sheep’s milk cheese, and a gorgonzola with unflinching heft.
Curled up at my feet, Panda keeps a close eye on the cheeses, hoping the dog gods and gravity bring some crumbs her way.
We wile away an hour, taking in the view over the Infinity Pool, and I read about how current owners, the Turner family, of Flight Centre fame, made 3,091 hectares of this land a nature refuge in 2007.
The sanctuary takes in acreage between Franklin Vale Creek and Mulgowie Valley with Western Creek flowing through its centre and providing a vital corridor for rare and threatened species like glossy black-cockatoos, square-tailed kites and koalas.
And then dinner beckons.
For starters, I opt for fresh Kalbar carrots that come cooked sous vide to soften them and are enlivened with secret herbs and spices – tonight, carrot is king.
For mains, my wife chooses the Grandchester heritage rooster, Scenic Rim mushrooms and sweet corn that bursts with tantalising flavour.
Meanwhile, for mains, I go for the pumpkin, farrow, and kale with a black truffle syrup and mushrooms.
And for desserts we have the Tamborine Gingerbread, honey and black pear and a macadamia and brown butter financier with passion fruit and Marburg emu citronella custard – the sweets contrast textures and excite the palate.
We bid goodnight and fall into a deep slumber back at the cottage.
The next morning, we hastily pack the car and head over to the restaurant for breakfast.
We order the Herbed Avocado accompanied with whipped honey feta and 9Dorf eggs … apparently the hens from this Lockyer Valley farm are towed about in a caravan to enjoy the best grass, fresh air and sunshine on the farm – the reason, then, these are the tastiest eggs I have ever eaten.
Spicers Hidden Vale surpassed expectations, from the super-friendly staff who make us feel like a part of the family, to the thrilling, unparalleled dining experience and the glorious views, this is a retreat in which to recalibrate and rediscover what it means to awaken the senses once again in nature.
Who knows, in this tranquillity, you might even be able to start writing that book you had always dreamed of.
