BALLARAT, VIC

Head to the Forge Pizzeria on EAT Armstrong Street if you’re partial to great pizza and a side of exposed brickwork. The popular and buzzy CBD joint (with a second outpost further west in Alfredton) is named in honour of its founders’ grandfather, a blacksmith, and today a wood-fired oven is central to operations. The menu is creative and inventive. Spend a fine Ballarat evening in DRINK Mitchell Harris Wines, a cool industrial space that in its 140-year history has served as a produce store, tentmakers’ and motor workshop. Today, the bar acts as cellar door and showcase for local winemaker John Harris, as well as other wines of Central and Western Victoria. Spend a night or a few in a historic STAY townhouse, Lascelles Terrace, that has been luxuriously renovated with utmost style and character. Hire the upstairs or downstairs apartment of one house, or the whole house next door.