One of my favourite places to get inspired, buy gifts for friends and bits and bobs for my wardrobe…read moreor home. Craft Victoria celebrates local artists and it certainly the place to go if you want to take a gift interstate or overseas. There's beautiful jewelry (my favourites are hand painted porcelain beads by Abby Seymour), ceramics, knitted hats and scarves, craft and design books and lots of cute cards if you want to complete the gift giving experience. Their window display is always a treat too... even if it's late at night and closed, it's nice to peer in to the window and dream about having a designer home filled with expensive hand crafted goodies.

I went into Craft Victoria to see the gallery and not the shop. This is not knitting granny craft…read morebut the most avant-garde and progressive craft in Victoria, it is more like contemporary art than anything grandma would recognize. There are three exhibitions in the long narrow gallery spaces; the exhibitions change every six weeks. Even though I have went there to see the exhibitions I still have to have a look around the shop area in case I see that perfect gift for someone. There isn't - maybe next time. Craft Victoria is also a great place to find out more information about art exhibition openings. I leave with the free InTrouble magazine and some exhibition invite cards.

Chesterfield Farm is a great place to come and experience a little bit of farm life. The grounds…read moreand staff are lovely. All of the animals are gorgeous and friendly. There's a little petting zoo for the kiddies and a tractor ride around the entire farm. The cockies say hello and goodbye and you can buy farm fresh eggs from the store. We had a great time at the cow milking session and on the tractor ride. Fun for the whole family.

A quaint little shop with a broad take on its theme, Alice & Co is a self-proclaimed "purveyor of…read morelanguage and other wonders". Locally themed and published books, prints of classical illustrations, postcards, notebooks and other literary themed art are all displayed on dark wood tables and bookshelves. There's a whole shelf of different Alice in Wonderland illustrations on postcards in pigeon holes for $2.50 each, but not everything in the shop is directly associated with Lewis Carrol novel. Small prints of fairy tale stills and tarot deck illustrations go for between $15 and $30 each, it's a good place to stock up on things for your walls that aren't just band posters stripped from poles around Melbourne. Alice & Co also plays host to exhibits from illustrators, readings and book launches, as well as classes in humanities and languages. It's also been known to host puppet theatre. The proprietor is friendly and obliging, and lovers of literature will enjoy the general feel of the place.

As i have said before, i enjoy a colourful window display. Alice & Co is an Art space that focuses…read moreon language arts, book arts. illustration and is the street front for Littlefox Press. The window display right now is quite epic. There's variety of art all themed from Alice in Wonderland (I guess they wanted the window art to match the name of the gallery). The last time i managed to swing past Alice & Co was when they had an exhibition from a much admired photographer Ari Fainchtein. The small space is quaint and cosy but after a while in Alice & Co, it was time to move on, a coffee just around the corner finished off the visual feast. Alice & Co host a range of Book Launches / Openings, Exhibitions and even runs some classes for languages and social sciences.

We dropped by here on the weekend and bought boysenberries and raspberries. The staff were really…read morefriendly, wrapped our berries in newspaper so they would stay cool in the car and let us wander around the grounds to take photos. Inexpensive, delicious berries!

Great bloke. Geoff. Doesn't tolerate any bullshit though !!…read moreIf he tells you the price , it's the price... and it's fair. Hates hagglers. Always very helpful too. Honest . Fair prices. Great range of stuff. Love going to that place - even though it's not close by.

It is designed to be a family friendly historical establishment. I took this into consideration in…read moredetermining the ratings here; they really do care and put a lot on for their families (must be their target audience as opposed to a young person in their early thirties) so therefore, I have tried to keep an open mind here. For me I was a little bored, although I did learn something interesting about the Victorian maritime system; yet there isn't overly too much to look at, so again this establishment is slightly overrated in my eyes; I was bored. However for families that put on special events like family fun day where children can get their face painted and receive goodie bags, and also get the opportunity to dress up as pirates; only to name a few different activities as part of their family fun days which children get to relish. It is popular among families, and expect to be patient when queuing to get in. Luckily there is a cafe pit stop to enjoy the end of the journey, although I cannot comment much on this cafe because I decided to pass on my coffee on this occasion. Still interesting to discover though. Give it a go.

For a start, this place is called Polly Woodside…read more Go on, say it. Poll-eeey Wood-siide. Feels good huh? Secondly, it's a great place to wander around on a day. If you're a budding photographer then you'll find some good spots here and if you fork out $15 you can go poke around on the tall ship. Everyone loves a tall ship!

C and I went to see the Australian Tapestry Workshop. C. is more interested in textile arts than I…read moream but I still enjoyed my visit. There is a small entrance fee to see the workshop but it is well worth it. An observation deck allows visitors to watch the tapestries being made on the four large looms on the main floor. When C and I visited they were working on John Young's "The Navigator" (2.3 x3.02m.) for the National Library of Australia. The weavers work in teams across large tapestries. Watching the one of the weavers mixing strands from half a dozen colors to create exactly the right blend of color. The observation deck also allows the visitor to observe the yarn dyed in the small color laboratory safely from behind glass. The workshop produces a 366 standard color range of wools for sale at their shop and also dye their own wool specifically for certain projects. The Australian Tapestry Workshop was formerly the Victorian Tapestry Workshop. It is still located in the same 19th century building in South Melbourne that once held a knitting mill. The large work floor has become the tapestry workshop. Lace ironwork pillars support a saw tooth roof over the main floor. There is also a shop selling tapestry wool and two gallery spaces exhibiting work for sale. Over the 30 years of its operation, the Victorian Tapestry Workshop has made most of the large tapestries that currently hang in Australian public buildings.

Although I last visited the actual Workshop a couple of years ago, I frequenty order their yarn…read moreonline. Their customer service is excellent, and their in-house dyed yarn is beautiful quality (which is why it isn't cheap!). Formerly mail-order only, you can now buy their yarns via their online shop ... not as personal, but much more convenient ;) I use them for my cross stitch kits, as well as woven tapestry. They are currently transitioning from Corriedale wool to a higher-twist Merino - good to know if (like me) you purchase wool for particular projects.

If you walk just a few paces beyond the bakery at Abbotsford Convent, you'll come to the expansive…read moreroom that was once the dining hall for nuns. It's now St Heliers Street Store & Gallery, run by Cam who happens to be the nephew of the Convent's publican, Handsome Steve. I visited St Heliers with a group of friends for the opening night of Richard Denny's exhibition 'Tea with the Fat Badger'. Given it was opening night we enjoyed certain advantages (namely free Moet) that made me fall just a little bit more in love with Cam's set up than is healthy. The exhibition space is airy and open owing to the enormous windows and super high ceiling. Why did the nuns need so much space to eat?! The shop area at the top end of the hall is equally as spacious with a few tables spread around (including a couple outside overlooking the courtyard). Although the usual menu wasn't available (who wants coffee when there's free Champagne?) I had a chat to Cam about what he usually offers, and was delighted to discover there is milkshakes on the menu, along with ice cream and of course kick-arse coffee. Aside from the pieces being exhibited, there's also work of other Convent artists available and you can pick up basic essentials you may need on your day out at the Convent, like replacement batteries for your camera and sunscreen - not only is St Heliers a lovely space, it's providing essential services for both the artists and visitors alike. UPDATE: I've been back and sampled the chocolate milkshake. Damn good stuff.

I think this little store is fantastic. And no, it's not just because of the cheap chocolate and…read morethe free wine. Although...free wine? Wow. It wasn't the best I've ever had (some cleanskin or other), but free wine! Crazy times. It's also got a lovely atmosphere. The gallery is cool, full of interesting pieces - updated fairly regularly, too. My friend nudged me in the ribs hard the last time we were there. It was Mick Turner from the Dirty Three! I don't think I've ever seen him fanboy quite so much.