The Young and The Restless | Climb high into the silo

There were 17 of us, all busy, therefore difficult to co-ordinate a simultaneous free weekend.

Back to square one with limited accommodation options around for a group that size to stay together.

A unique place up in the Mallee, where silos, stables, a grain store, and cow and machinery sheds had been fashioned into ‘glamping’ accommodation, had been calling me to bring my three teen sons up there for some time.

I suggested it to the extended family as a (highly contrasted) substitute for the Yarra Valley, holding my breath as I broke the news it would be an almost four-hour drive, and waited for what I expected to be responses riddled with incredulity.

Much to my surprise, there was zero resistance, so we were on our way towards the land of wheat crops and dust storms, where sandy red loam meets earthy-coloured wildflowers that face the sun at the roads’ edges.

Paddy melons grow wild along fence lines, the two main characters of our coat of arms make themselves regularly seen and skies seemingly stretch for days.

Mallee Bush Retreat at Hopetoun is a little oasis in the middle of it all.

It sits on the shores of Lake Lascelles; an inviting little lake suitable for fishing, boating and kayaking.

Despite being in the thick of winter, I still ventured out for a paddle on my paddleboard; our first-ever winter voyage together.

There is a cordoned area specifically for swimming, but on the middle weekend of the coldest season of the year, we saw no-one but the waterfowl venture into it.

Architect James Brearley was commissioned to design the lakeside accommodation in 1990; however, a long drought had seen the lake dry up in 2000.

Not long after, in the early 2000s, the Hopetoun community and lake committee built the accommodation on the dry lake anyway, confident it would be shimmering with water again one day.

After 10 years of lobbying, water was secured to refill it in 2010.

Eight years later, a decommissioned water storage next to Lake Lascelles, called Willow Lake, was turned into a stocked fishery.

The Victorian Fisheries Authority stocks it with diverse fish while maintaining water levels with a connecting pipe, allowing fish to move between lakes.

The buildings are a real novelty. Who would think they might sleep inside a grain silo one day?

I’d never before considered it; after all, that’s not what grain silos are traditionally for.

But that’s what makes it so appealing, right?

On the inside, the accommodation is modest and basic.

There are beds, a couple of chairs, and a split system heating and cooling unit.

You take your own bedding and towels and use the communal bathrooms, just like you would if you were camping at a caravan park.

We had six separate groups within our big group, which the variety of accommodation catered to easily.

We hired both silos and both cow sheds, the shearer’s hut, the grain store and a machinery shed.

Surplus to our needs was a second machinery shed and some stables that could sleep up to 14 people.

Being a milestone birthday celebration, a communal all-weather area to come together should the weather not have been as stunning as it turned out to be on our weekend visit was appealing, so we also booked the function room at the site for a small extra cost.

It had a couple of undercover barbecues outside and a huge fire-pit with permanent fixed seating.

Without sounding like this is a paid advertisement (it’s absolutely not), part of me just wants to shout from the rooftops that all of this cost less than 500 bucks for our entire group.

But another part of me wants to keep it a secret, so there’s still the chance of a vacancy when I go back.

Because if there’s no si-lo, I will low-sigh sadly.

Dad jokes aside (couldn’t resist; I’ve just spent the weekend with a few of them), in reality, it’s unlikely we’ll be back too soon, as we rarely tread the same path twice.

They’re all yours!

To book, visit lakelascelles.com