The HOT List: Family Friendly Woodend – Top 6 Places to Go with Kids

Wooden Children's Park - 1

Woodend is a picturesque town just under an hour’s drive from Melbourne at the foothills of the Great Dividing Range. The town is the perfect starting point to explore the Macedon Ranges region and there’s enough to do for a mini-break yet small enough to not overwhelm little kids.

Here are my tips on the best places to go in Woodend with kids. 

PLAY

  1. Woodend Children’s Park, 12 Nicholson Street, Woodend

Woodend Children's Park

This huge adventure playground is a must-do and you might have trouble dragging the kids away! There’s lots of equipment for babies to older kids (including a fully fenced area), a flying fox strong enough to hold an adult, barbecue shelters and a lovely bushland setting.

EAT

2. The Village Larder, 81 High Street, Woodend

The Village Larder Woodend - 1

The Village Larder is a popular cafe on the main drag High Street – just look out for the line-up of bicycles. Outside it’s a little faux Tudor frontage, inside it’s mismatched retro. Their menu looked delicious but unfortunately we caught them between the end of breakfast at 11am and the beginning of lunch 12pm. Luckily the kids were content to share a large frothy milkshake, a bargain $5.


Find Hotels and Airbnbs near The Village Larder, Woodend


3. Colenso, 42D Anslow Street

Colesmo Woodend - 2

An art gallery, wine store, native nursery and cafe all rolled into one site. The cafe served a wholesome breakfast menu until 12pm and we enjoyed French toast, granola and baked beans with chorizo for under $50.

Colesmo Woodend - 3

SHOP

4. Woodend Bookshop, 104 High Street 

Woodend Secondhand Books - 1

Every village needs a secondhand book store and Woodend Bookshop provides floor to ceiling shelves of tomes. There was only a small children’s selection left after Christmas when we visited but the kids still made themselves at home. We bought an apparently rare FJ Holden puzzle for $10 and took it to the cafe for lunch.

5. New Leaves (corner Anslow and Collier streets) is another bookshop across the road which sells new books and has a good selection of children’s books.

SEE

6. Hanging Rock Reserve, South Rock Road

Hanging Rock lamingtons - 2

The first thing to note is that there is a $10 per car fee to enter Hanging Rock Reserve, so it’s worth planning to spend some time there. We just wanted to ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock’ before the downpour arrived so took our giant Bourkies Bakehouse lamingtons to the small playground on site. We’ll take the kids to climb the summit when they’re a bit older and we don’t have to carry them!


Where are your favourite places to play, shop and eat in Woodend?

About Joyce Watts

Joyce Watts is a former intellectual property, IT and media lawyer turned serial entrepreneur.

As well as being the founder of TOT: HOT OR NOT she helps businesses with their SEO, email marketing & social media as BrightSmart.com.au; she owns an online bike store CycleStyle.com.au and develops and produces creative experiences for families via WheelieGoodFun.com. She used to publish another popular lifestyle and food blog called MEL: HOT OR NOT The decisive guide to Melbourne.

She lives in inner-city Melbourne with her husband, two children and seven bikes.

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