#FELinMEL Day 9: Werribee Mansion, Victoria State Rose Garden, Lindt Cafe

Dec 16, 2015
8 min read

Today I travelled west to Werribee. Werribee is a suburb of Melbourne and three attractions can be found here - Werribee Mansion, Victoria State Rose Garden and Werribee Open Range Zoo, in which I went for the first two.

Werribee Mansion was built by wealthy sheep farmers in the 19th century Australia, Italianate-style architecture with Victorian interiors completed in 1877. The mansion is surrounded by 10 hectares of garden, which is now converted into Werribee Park, and is best viewed from the mansion's balcony. Part of the mansion has now been converted into a hotel that houses 91 rooms, while the main area remains to show how life is like in the past. Though not everything displayed were original, much effort has been put in to restore the mansion as much as they could to match the original state.

One thing that I have learnt after visiting the mansion is that children are not allowed to live with their parents and they stay in a seperate section called The Nursery Wing. Upper class children of the time lived a strictly regulated and almost completely seperated life in the nursery. Their governers would bring them down to the drawing room (a room in the house where guests are entertained) to see their parents in the afternoon or for special occasions. Children will sleep, had their lessions, meals and play in their wing, which had its own bathroom and a seperate staircase so that they could come and go without disturbing the adults in the rest of the house. While... I would love to stay in a house like this but not with all these rules!

WERRIBEE MANSION

Opening hrs: 1000-1700hrs (Daily).

Admission: $9.60.

Address: K Road, Werribee South, VIC 3030.

http://www.visitvictoria.com/regions/Melbourne/Things-to-do/History-and-heritage/Werribee-Mansion.aspx

#1: Werribee Station - this is where you alight from the train and take the bus to Werribee South.

#2: The bus station

#3: Werribee Park

#4: Pretty flowers around the park.

#5: Werribee Mansion

#6: Main staircase.

#7: Library - which is considered as a male retreat, consists of darker colours and a black marble fireplace as compared to the drawing room, which is considered as a female domain with brighter colours and a white marble fireplace.

#8: Drawing Room - a room where guests are entertained.

#9: Drawing Room.

#10: Drawing Room.

#11: Dining Room - used for formal entertaining.

#12: Morning Room - used as an informal family living and dining room. The Dining Room and Drawing Room are reserved for more formal occasions.

#13: Butler Pantry - an utility room in the house that stores serving items rather than food.

#14: Larder - a room for storing food prior to use.

#15: Scullery - a room in the house used for washing dishes and laundering clothes.

#16: Kitchen.

#17: Kitchen, stovetop.

#18: Kitchen.

#19: Main Bedroom.

#20: Main Bedroom.

#21: Dressing Room for Main Bedroom.

#22: Private Bathroom for Main Bedroom.

#23: Exhibition Room.

#24: Hallway.

#25: Saloon - another word for lounge, an area used for balls.

#26: Door to Balcony.

#27: Balcony.

#28: View from Balcony.

#29: View from Balcony - part of the mansion converted into a hotel.

#30: Chandelier at stairway.

#31: Staircase from Level 2 (First Level).

#32: Guest Bedroom - Lavender.

#33: Guest Bedroom - Lavender.

#34: Guest Dressing Room - Lavender.

#35: Guest Bedroom - Blue.

#36: Guest Bedroom - Blue.

#37: Guest Dressing Room - Blue.

#38: Victorian Household Uniforms.

#39: [LEFT] Lady of the House: responsible for all the servants, except for her husband's valet and the butler. She makes sure that each member of the household maintain dignity and acted in a way that will not bring sham on her rank.

[RIGHT] Master of the House: Victorian gentlemen see their home as their refuge from the rough aspects of the real world. The entire household staff is under his control.

#40: [LEFT] The Housekeeper: The Butler's counterpart on the female servants. She hires all women servants except the Mistress's personal attendants such as the lady's maid, nurse and the cook. She attends to all housekeeping accounts and purchases and maintains the household linen. She is in charge of the sewing, making of preserves and superviese the production of confectionery.

[RIGHT] The Butler: at the top of the domestic hierarchy, given the ability to hire and dismiss all men servants. The Butler is in charge of many areas which includes household accounts, orgainsing and ordering of supplies, wine cellar, travelling expenses, attend to visitors, and more.

#41: [MOST LEFT] The Valet: a senior member of the indoor staff and his main duty is to attend to the well-being of the Master and taking care of the travelling arrangements. He is very trustworthy and carries a cash float of sometimes as much as 100 pounds, which is more than his salary.

#42: The Lady's Maid: equivalent to the Valet and is of a privileged position. Her main duty is to wait on her Mistress. She is expected to be well read, have excellent needlework skills and be scrupulously honest. She helps the Lady of the House to dress and undress, style her hair and even prepare beauty lotions.

#43: [LEFT] Footman: The Footman is directly under the control of the Butler. He will clean boots and polish the silver in the morning. He will carry coal and tend to lamps and candles. By midday, he will be ready to answer the door and take messages. He will ring the bell half hour before dinner to warn the household to dress for dinner, and will then wait on the table.

[RIGHT] Cook: The Cook is third in line of seniority of the female staff, following behind the housekeeper and the lady's maid, as the standard of food served to guests is very important. She needs to understand the making of pies, puddings, pastry and bread in general, as well as preparing sauces, gravys, soups and herbs. She is expected to know the best methods of keeping food - uncooked and cooked - how to arrange the larder, kitchen, kitchen utensils, and how to serve up all dishes, with the help from the kitchen and scullery maids.

#44: Porlourmaid: The Palourmaid ensures that the house is remained clean and tidy, following the directions of the Housekeeper and the Butler.

#45: [LEFT] Kitchen Maid and Scullery Maid: these members are not allowed in formal rooms. The Kitchen Maid had the senior position and will help the Cook - preparation of meals, fires for cooking - ans is responsible for the genral tidiness of the Kitchen. The Scullery Maid is obliged to clean all cooking utensils and is the lowest rank of the household.

[RIGHT] Laundry Maid: collect all dirty washing, sorting into whites, colours and different materials then soak, wash, rinse, wring, and hang out to dry; iron and deliver back to the rooms.

#46: A seperate staircase for the servants.

#47: The Exhibition Area on the First Floor (second level) and the space underneath it at Ground Level (first floor) converted into a cafe.

#48: Victorian's Children Bedroom.

#49: Victorian's Children Bedroom.

#50: Victorian's Children Bedroom.

#51: Costume Exhibition Room.

#52: Costume Exhibition Room.

Working distance from the mansion is Victoria State Rose Garden. Victoria State Rose Garden is a park that showcases various types of roses and was granted the Award of Garden Excellence in 2003. The park is entirely maintained by volunteers that were formed in 1993. It contains over 5000 roses and is one of the tourist gems of Victoria. If you happened to be at Werribee, you have got to come visit this garden, the blooming roses are just stunning.

VICTORIA STATE ROSE GARDEN

Available Period: Summer, around October to April.

Opening hrs: 0930-1800hrs (Daily).

Address: K Road, Werribee South, VIC 3030.

http://vicstaterosegarden.com.au/home.html

#53: Victoria State Rose Garden - recognize the start of the garden from this arch entrance.

#54: Victoria State Rose Garden.

#55: Victoria State Rose Garden.

GET READY FOR LOTS OF ROSE PHOTOS IN FULL BLOOM!!

#56: Roses at Victoria State Rose Garden.

#57: Roses at Victoria State Rose Garden.

#58: Roses at Victoria State Rose Garden.

#59: Roses at Victoria State Rose Garden.

#60: Roses at Victoria State Rose Garden.

#61: Roses at Victoria State Rose Garden.

#62: Roses at Victoria State Rose Garden.

#63: Roses at Victoria State Rose Garden.

#64: Roses at Victoria State Rose Garden.

#65: Roses at Victoria State Rose Garden.

#66: Roses at Victoria State Rose Garden.

#67: Roses at Victoria State Rose Garden.

#68: Roses at Victoria State Rose Garden.

#69: Roses at Victoria State Rose Garden.

#70: Roses at Victoria State Rose Garden.

#71: Roses at Victoria State Rose Garden.

#72: Roses at Victoria State Rose Garden.

Next, I went back to city to hunt for Hash Specialty Coffee & Roasters, who are Instagram-famous for their Hash Hot Chocolate, which consists of a beaker of rich, melted chocolate served with a tall cup of fairy floss. However, since I was rushing to catch the last shuttle bus to Chadstone, I did not manage to sit down to enjoy this. One smart move that I observed from Hash is that they had, I would say the currently most widely used symbol, '#' as their logo.

HASH SPECIALTY COFFEE & ROASTERS

Opening hrs: 0700-1600hrs (Mon-Fri), 0800-1700hrs (Sat, Sun).

Address: 113 Hardware Street, Melbourne VIC 3000.

https://www.facebook.com/hashcoffeeroasters

#73: Hash Specialty Coffee & Roasters.

#74: Hash Specialty Coffee & Roasters.

#75: Interior of Hash.

#76: Interior of Hash.

#77: Pastry display of Hash.

#78: Barista at work...

#79: Flat White, AU$3.80.

After learning that Chadstone Shopping Centre has extended its trading hours for Christmas, I've got to come back again! This place is huge, there are so many things to shop for, and I returned to get more chocolates and continue my shopping at Kmart! I also visited Lindt Chocolate Cafe. Lindt & Sprungli, better known as Lindt, is a Swiss chocolatier and confectionery company. Lindt opened eight chocolate cafes in Australia, four in Sydney and four in Melbourne. The café’s menu focuses on chocolate, signature chocolate drinks and chocolate desserts, as well as breakfast and lunch. I had a opera cake (layers of almond cake, coffee buttercream and dark chocolate ganache) and their signature hot chocolate, best cake and best hot chocolate ever!