An Art and Design Lover's Weekend Guide to Red Hill on the Mornington Peninsula

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If your ideal weekender involves art, design, good eats, beautiful beaches and minimal driving, make tracks to Red Hill. Located just an hour's drive from Melbourne — in the centre of the Mornington Peninsula — this tiny rural community puts the tranquil waters of Port Phillip Bay on one side of you and the wild Bass Strait on the other. Get your art fix at the stunning Pt Leo Estate Sculpture Park and Montalto in between dining on hatted fare and trying a pinot noir or two among the Peninsula's 50 or so cellar doors.

To help you plan, we've partnered with Mitsubishi in celebration of its new Eclipse Cross to bring you an art-filled itinerary for a weekend escape to Red Hill.

Pt Leo Estate.

SEE AND DO

Your arty escapade begins at Pt Leo Sculpture Park, on the southeast coast, around 15 minutes drive from Red Hill. Opened in October 2017, this epic wonderland has large-scale works dotted among 135 hectares of vineyards, flowers and fields backdropped by the sea. It's the collection of multi-billionaires John and Pauline Gandel — owners of Chadstone Shopping Centre.

Look out for Horizons (1988) by late Australian sculptor Anthony Pryor, which looks like a stairway that vanishes into the sky, and the shiny blue conical forms of Cosmic Resonance by Melbourne-based Augustine Dall'ava. There's also a bunch of international works, including the meditative Ma'aseyahu by late Israeli-American artist Boaz Vaadia and Luke by Britain's Tony Cragg. An interactive app lets you choose between 30- and 60-minute self-guided walks — with or without a glass of wine in your hand from the single-vineyard, hand-harvested drops on offer at Pt Leo Estate's cellar door.

Pt Leo Estate.

Continue your sculptural spree just five minutes' drive away at Montalto. The one-kilometre trail meanders around the Estate's picturesque grounds — from open spaces with monumental works that dominate the horizon, to vineyards and wetlands where smaller pieces are on show. The collection is made up of 30 permanent sculptures, so there's plenty of art to keep you entertained. If you're travelling between February and October, you'll also get to see the Montalto Sculpture Prize Exhibition, an annual acquisitive award worth $16,000.

Montalto.

Beyond the grand estates and sculpture parks, Red Hill and surrounds are home to an array of indoor galleries. Make your first stop the Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, 15 minutes' drive north in Mornington. Check out the permanent collection, which includes Margaret Preston's Tank Traps (1943) and Arthur Boyd's Lovers in a Boat, Hastings (1955), among works by Brett Whiteley, Russell Drysdale and Charles Blackman.

Find out what local artists are getting up to along the Peninsula Studio Trail and at the Cook Street Collective, in Flinders — near the coast, ten minutes' drive south of Pt Leo Sculpture Park. This artist-run space exhibits paintings, sculptures, prints, photographs, jewellery, woodcrafts and design.

Laura.

EAT

Pt Leo champions art not only in its park but also at the onsite restaurant, Laura. Named after the Estate's Jaume Plensa sculpture, headed by Phil Wood (ex-Rockpool Bar & Grill) and affording panoramic water vistas, this spot offers divine tasting menus. Start with seafood pie with roast Arnotts Farm onions and Heritage Farm duck egg sabayon, followed by coffee-glazed pork with mustard, hoshigaki, salad onion, cheese and parsnip. The matching wines are an international journey, journeying from Pt Leo Estate pinot noir 2016 to Pietradolce 'Archineri' Carricante 2016 from Etna, Italy — and passing Rutherglen, France and Japan on the way.

Flinders Island mussels, seaweed butter and dehydrated tomatoes with polenta at Laura.

Also hard to miss — visually and gustatorily — is Port Phillip Estate's Dining Room, whose magnificent curved limestone building looks like a modern castle. Among the hatted dishes are roasted Humpty Doo barramundi with wood-roasted celeriac and lemon caper sauce and Great Ocean Road duck breast with leg cannelloni, parsnip and fermented pear.

Port Phillip Estate.

For a more casual lunch that's all about letting local produce do its thing, swing by Foxeys Hangout. Your best bet is to put yourself in the chef's hands by ordering seasonal share plates. One weekend, you might be feasting on braised leeks with goat curd, blood orange and mint, and the next, mushroom sausage rolls with smoked tomato sauce. The dishes are complemented by Foxey Hangout's excellent cool climate wines, so do be tempted to sample your way through the pinot noir, pinot gris and chardonnay. Another laidback cellar door is Quealy, where you can try its out-of-the-box Pobblebonk (a field blend) and Friulano, an Italian varietal seldom grown in Australia.

Jackalope.

STAY

The artiest stay in the area has to be Jackalope in Merricks North, ten minutes' drive east of Red Hill. This super-luxe boutique hotel boasts its own art collection, including a seven-metre high sculpture of a jackalope — the mythical horned rabbit from which the stay takes its name. Expect a room with vineyard views, floor-to-ceiling windows, a private terrace, deep Japanese bath and handcrafted bespoke furnishings.

Back in Red Hill, sleep among a 25-acre working winery at Polperro. Each of the four light, roomy studios afford vineyard views, which you can soak up from your king-sized bed or private deck. On cool nights, get cosy in front of your own fireplace or relax in the spacious spa. If it's a sauna you're after, request Number Four.

Iluka Retreat.

Meanwhile, glampers and campers can get back to nature at Iluka Retreat, just a stone's throw from Pt Leo Sculpture Park. You'll find yourself immersed in 36 acres of nature, overlooking wetlands backdropped by hills. Each spacious bell tent comes with comfy cushions, rugs, mattresses and linen, as well as an optional private fireplace. If you have your own tent, you're welcome to pitch it instead.

Where to next? Make the most of every week with Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross and navigate to your next destination here.