We found a dream escape during COVID. Five years on, we keep going back

January 28, 2026 — 1:29pm

In the early weeks of the pandemic I suffered a bout of cabin fever that had me dreaming about escaping to north-east Victoria and the river country that I grew up on. Buoyed by the rock-bottom Airbnb prices at the time, I booked a summer getaway at Tea Garden Creek Cottage in the Milawa Gourmet Region.

It was to be a salve. After eight months of inner-city lockdown, home-schooling and curfews, the escape to rural Victoria was a breath of fresh country air, a land of big blue skies, long horizons, river swims and fresh farm produce – the simpler life that city people often dream about.

During the five years since, the cottage and the region have become our go-to for family Christmases, summer holidays and wintry long weekends, a happy place where we check-in to check-out.

The cottage itself is a characteristic century-old weatherboard beautifully renovated by owners Ann and Ray who live next door and own the surrounding 40-hectare farm. It is furnished with lovable story-telling pieces that Ann and her son Alex have collected over the years: a set of Eames chairs around the dining table, two vintage printer’s blocks in the kitchen, a beautiful hallway light fitting found in a Parisian market. The view from the back verandah stretches across grassy paddocks and sheep to lucerne crops and the enormous, gnarled gumtrees that shade the creek.

Though we were often social distancing on that first stay, we found ways to connect. A loaf of local corn bread or a jar of olive oil from the farm’s own grove would be waiting for us courtesy of Ann. On the days that Ray would disappear on a river adventure, we’d be treated to fresh-caught trout smoked in his back shed. We would return the favour as best we could – a bottle of gamay from my uncle and aunt’s Pennyweight Winery in nearby Beechworth always went down a treat.

Then, as now, our days tended to revolve around food and the farm. The kids would take our kitchen scraps down the paddock to the chooks and come back with fresh-laid eggs, still warm and speckled with barnyard dirt. Ann and Ray’s garden was a source of wild rosemary and thyme, cumquats, rambling baby tomato bushes and oversized carrots. Their visiting grandkids became playmates for our kids.

Beyond the farm, there was no fitter place for foraging than the Milawa Gourmet Region, encompassing the tiny townships of Oxley, Milawa, Tarrawingee, Markwood and Whorouly. By that first COVID summer, the community had found ways to live in the ‘new normal’. Roadside stalls sold seasonal cherries and eggs, and little farmgate shops had opened. One, Cottonwoods in Markwood, had a social distancing honesty box so we could load up on zucchinis, tomatoes, garlic and whatever else had been harvested that day. Cafes and produce shops found creative ways to stay open for business too.

Some have come and gone over the years. Just this year, we were sad to see both Milawa Bread and The Olive Shop – supplier of local pickles, jams and other produce, had closed. Similarly, Milawa Organic Beef had shut its doors to farmgate customers. But the community’s gourmet reputation lives on. Milawa Cheese Co. still purveys some of Australia’s best cheeses, from a nine-month-old Aged Milawa Blue to an epic hard-rind tomme. The shop’s long glass counter also showcases local pate and charcuterie, biscuits, butter and farmyard eggs. Down the road, Milawa Mustards in the old red brick butcher shop continues to sell delicious seeded mustards, jellies and chutney. Hurdle Creek Stillhouse keeps producing a tasty aniseed gin.

These days, the region remains a popular stopover for travellers en route to the snowfields and Bright so there’s plenty to dine out on. Classic big-name wineries Sam Miranda at Oxley and Brown Brothers of Milawa are favourites for a prosecco and a platter on beanbags under big old shade trees. Henleys, in a heritage building on Milawa’s main street, has a sociable grassy garden where wood-fired pizza and a selection of vino from the northeast is served.

In the evenings, Ava’s upmarket Euro menu neatly attracts both fine diners out for a special occasion, and the likes of us dropping by after a sunkissed day spent swimming in the Ovens River at nearby Pioneer Bridge.

On most holiday visits we cycle the fabulous Pedal to Produce rail trail and visit the neighbouring King Valley wine region, be it for wine tasting at family-run Red Feet and La Cantina wineries or for a craft tap beer at King River Brewing. On our most recent visit we finally got to Mountain View Hotel, an excellent gastro pub with al fresco dining run by Pizzini Wines. The rope swing on the King River at Moyhu makes for a fun place to stop before taking a dirt road detour back home.

A couple of times, when the cottage has been booked, I’ve treated myself to a five-star stay at Lancemore Milawa, a gorgeous recently renovated hotel sitting amid the vines. Another time, the family has pitched tents at Edi Cutting Reserve, a camping spot on the King River. But it’s Ann and Ray’s cottage that keeps calling us back, a sanctuary during COVID times, and now a place we call home.