The Sebel Creswick Forest Resort

This is a great place if you want to visit "country Victoria" without a long journey from Melbourne. The units themselves are excellent (2 bedrooms, each with balcony bath and shower, separate laundry, decent kitchen...). Despite the name, there are no resort facilities, but we knew that in advance, so it wasn't an issue for us. There were a few maintenance issues in the unit that I trust will be resolved.

We arrived at this ‘resort’ on a rainy afternoon and looked for our unit. It was number 1 so when we saw the large white number 1 on the first building, we pulled into the drive only to find out it was a private establishment. So I set off walking in the rain looking for another number 1. I eventually worked out that the numbers were included in a dark metal art piece under a dark carport next to the front door. We found number 1, it was next to the other number 1. We entered the villa to find a visually gorgeous interior. Architecturally interesting and with lovely outlooks from the many windows. We put the gas log fire on straight away. We had a 2 bedroom villa and the 2 bedrooms upstairs were BOTH master bedrooms. An interesting feature were the baths in both rooms - not in the bathroom but part of the bedroom. I didn’t try it because it was deep and slippery with no hand rails. Not good for oldies. But they did look good. I used the small ‘bathroom’ shower instead. Not an easy feat either. We settled in. We established pretty early that the wifi was problematic with continual drop outs. 10 + logins a day and sometimes 2 to 3 attempts each time. I rang a provided number the next morning and I asked where I could find Reception. There isn’t one. We wondered why we were booked in and told about the key box over the phone. I asked about ‘resort’ facilities eg gym, pool, BBQ etc. There aren’t any. The electronic compendium didn’t give much info we needed e.g. where to put recyclables. Dishwashing supplies were minimal. 2 small dishwashing sachets and 2 dishwasher sachets for up to 4 people for a week. If you wanted more, you had to pay for them! Bring your own supplies! I went to IGA and bought a 1lt bottle of Earth Choice dishwash liquid for not much more than a sachet would have cost. The front of the villas look great but walk around the back and it’s a different story. Weeds, broken down fences, slippery moss. Very uncared for. The cleanliness of the unit itself was excellent. However, small things like the dirty grout in showers and the dirty dishwasher were disappointing. The villa was quiet, the beds and pillows were comfortable, TV reception was good. We appreciated the downstairs toilet. The beds and pillows were comfortable, TV reception was good. We appreciated the downstairs toilet. We didn’t try the RACV restaurant on the adjoining property. We did go into Ballarat for a meal with friends and we had a takeaway noodle dish one night but self catered the other nights. Creswick is delightful. Country town feel, friendly people, interesting history and fabulous walking tracks plus more! Pop into the info centre as soon as possible. If you’re a first time visitor to Victoria, take a drive to beautiful Daylesford, and walk around the Botanic Gardens and Lake Wendouree in Ballarat. Would we stay at Sebel Creswick again? Yes. Knowing what they don’t have will help us plan for what we need. The accomodation overall is good. But it’s