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New year, new learning opportunities at The Cooking School

Sunday 1st March | 10am – 2:30pm

Enjoy a delicious summer session at The Cooking School. Expand your culinary repertoire this year with an informative, intimate and hands-on cooking session with 2 senior chefs from the two-hatted Lake House restaurant team producing a 3-course seasonal menu.

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There's a rhythm to life at our house on the lake - a sequence of ongoing daily rituals... Bread is rolled, fresh flowers are arranged, coffee is ground, tables are set. Mountains of fresh produce come through the kitchen doors, borne by proud suppliers. Cooks butcher, peel and chop. The rhythm continues on through the day into the evening, with the soft murmur of guests and the clink of glasses. Final lights out offers a mere few hours respite before the bakers return and the rhythm resumes once again.

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Restaurant, Hotel, Spa, Weddings, Events, Cellar, Retreats....

Six acres of country gardens extend down to the waters of Lake Daylesford and provide guests with immediate access to the lake shore and the Wombat State Forest beyond.

Exploring the property is in itself an adventure. Guests may like to have a hit of tennis followed by tea and refreshments in the tennis pavilion, a glass of wine by the fire in the Argyle Library Bar. Given the opportunity to explore the gardens you will come upon significant trees, a myriad of sculptures and artwork from many of the region’s top artists, extensive outdoor terraces overlooking the lake shore and established country gardens with everything from koala-loved stringy barks to lilac, Daphne, quince, plum and apple trees.

The renowned restaurant draws appreciative foodies from Australia and around the world. In the kitchens, a talented team under the guidance of Co-Owner and Culinary Director Alla Wolf-Tasker work from the ground up producing cutting edge, modern Australian cuisine with an emphasis on seasonal and regional ingredients.

The Award Winning Cellar and its list with over 1000 references keeps wine buffs happy with its edgy and interesting selection of wines from around the world and of course closer to home.

Co-Owner and resident artist Allan Wolf-Tasker whose work hangs in private and public collections around the world has a studio on site which is open by invitation and appointment to Lake House guests. Wolf-Tasker’s canvases are on display throughout the property as are works by other artists from the family’s private collection.

In amongst the cool fern gully and surrounded by waterfall fed streams and springs – the Salus Spa is an oasis of tranquility.

Accents of blond wood and splashes of “Tiffany” blue in the furnishings combine with large nudes by renowned local painter David Bromley to create airy relaxation spaces around nine treatment areas. Hydrotherapy in private treetop mineral water spas, advanced performance facials and seasonal signature body treatments provide for easy on site indulgence.

History of Lake House

The early days

  • “When I was first introduced to the site upon which Lake House now sits, I was speechless. A horse met my wife and I at the fence and followed us as we negotiated our way through the gorse, blackberries and sparse native grass, the seven Redback-infested car wrecks and the lone, dying eucalyptus tree at the edge of the steep slope, that fell to the waters of the swamp below. My wife asked, “Is it do-able Al?”, I responded, “Of course”. An hour later the ex-mine site was ours; a piece of earth that had been turned completely inside-out in the search of gold.

    Co-Owner Allan Wolf-Tasker

Over the years Lake House has prospered and reinvented itself. Scarcely a year goes by without some enhancement or change. And according to Alla "It remains always, a work in progress".

Driving into Lake House it’s hard to imagine the resilience, energy and stubborn determination that was needed three decades ago, to undertake the building of a destination restaurant in rural Australia – especially on a gorse infested paddock in a down at heel and largely forgotten little town.

“Two youngsters with barely a bob between us and not being able to take no for an answer” is how Alla portrays her and husband co-owner Allan Wolf-Tasker, as they launched into their dream project that everyone told them was doomed to fail.

The successful development of Lake House and the resurrection of Daylesford, the village that the Wolf-Taskers put on the global culinary map, has been the subject of many magazine articles, documentaries and also Alla’s book “Lake House – A Culinary Journey in Country Australia”.

Nowadays Allan frequently entertains long term guests with a tale or two over a glass of something in his studio, surrounded by whatever canvasses he has on the go. An artist in great demand, his works hang in public and private collections all over the world. Allan also overseas development of the many new Lake House projects.

Alla remains in the thick of things, the driving force behind the house on the lake, shaping successive generations of Lake House teams with her own uncompromising ideal of hospitality and excellence in service. She still oversees the food, unwavering in her philosophy.

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Our Press

  • “Lake House has set the benchmark for Australian regional hospitality.”

    The Gourmet Traveller Hotel Guide

    View Article

  • “This European-inspired country-house retreat has, for over 30 years, been at the heart of culinary brilliance and luxury accommodation…. Located in the pretty town of Daylesford, the rambling, wantonly seductive Lake House is indeed beside a lake and has six acres of silver-birch woodlands and wandering gardens.”

    London Telegraph

  • “Lake House is recognised around the world as one of this country’s great restaurants.”

    Selector Magazine

  • “This impressive collection is utterly mesmerising. Select one of the many excellent local wines, to give you a regional flavour. Or choose from the enlightened selection of Australia and New Zealand’s Best. On a global front, the range is nothing short of outstanding, including a heady collection of Burgundy, grower Champagne and Italian reds.”

    The Gourmet Traveller Wine Awards