Name: Tuki Retreat
Address: 60 Stoney Rises Rd, Smeaton, Smeaton, Smeaton, 3364, Australia
Rating: 8

Air conditioning

Smoke-free property

Heating

Ticket assistance

Garden

Terrace

Outdoor furniture

No elevators

Reception desk

General

Non-smoking rooms

Rooms

Coffee/tea for guests

Diet menu (on request)

Breakfast

Restaurant

Snack bar

Meals

Free Wi-Fi

Internet access

Internet

Tour assistance

Tourist services

Barbecue grill(s)

Picnic area

Fishing

Recreation

Free parking

Parking

Meeting and presentation facilities

Conference Hall

Business

Pets allowed

Pets

Location

At the hotel

Tuki Trout Farm

Ballarat Airport

Tuki Retreat

Smeaton

child-bed

child-bed-fee

external-private-bathroom

private-bathroom

shared-bathroom

10-beds

11-beds

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4-beds

40-beds

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king-bed

queen-bed

limited-time

lounge

treatment

no-window

bay-view

bosphorus-view

canal-view

city-view

courtyard-view

garden-view

golf-view

harbour-view

inland-view

lake-view

land-view

mountain-view

ocean-front

ocean-view

oceanside

panoramic-view

park-view

partial-ocean-view

partial-sea-view

partial-view

pool-view

river-view

sea-front

sea-view

street-view

sunrise-view

sunset-view

water-view

with-view

annex

basement

main-building

1-bedroom

2-bedrooms

3-bedrooms

4-bedrooms

5-bedrooms

6-bedrooms

not-guaranteed

wired-internet-access

smoking

sauna

duplex

safe

mini-bar

breakfast-for-1

breakfast-for-2

pets-allowed

wi-fi

park access

Absolutely 10/10 perfect if you’re looking for a relaxing, quiet, off the grid, & charming place to stay in amongst some of Victoria’s greatest food and wine offerings. Don’t expect 5 star hotel, expect breathtaking views from your cabin where sunrise & sunset blow you away. Expect a comfortable cottage with character. The restaurant views are no different. The food is quality living off the land type home cooking that fills the belly nicely. Put your phone away and relax as you walk around the farm taking in the magic of rural beauty. It is located an easy drive away from an array of quality dining in the region. The owners Robert and Jan are very friendly and welcoming. Bring snacks and whatever you need to get properly immersed in the surroundings. The perfect place to base yourself to reset.

breathtaking views from your cabin where sunrise & sunset blow you away.

Perfect, cozy, picturesque getaway. Only 30mins from Daylesford/Hepburn Springs. The cottage and farm were beautiful. Amazing views. The beds were so comfortable. The open fire place and large spa were perfect. Spring water on tap and great cooking facilities. We had the most friendly horse grazing around our cottage. Wish we had stayed longer to try the restaurant on site.

Can’t recommend enough!

I have been going here for over 25 years. The food is incredible and always filling. The fish, steaks, and rolls are next level. I find the staff to all be friendly. They are not fake friendly with a giant smile plastered on their face 24/7, they are genuinely friendly hardworking people who literally do not stop moving from sun up to sun down. They will run around all of the farm completing activities between orders. The service can be “slow” as a result. However, this is not the place you go to sit down, eat, and leave. You go here for an experience. I go sit, have a drink, catch some fish, place my order, walk the grounds, slow dance with my husband under the willows, eat, have another drink, eat some dessert, and then wonder back to my room very full and happy. I go here with my nieces and they spend hours here having endless fun looking at all of the animals and running up and down the hills. 

This is my go to spot to take any international or interstate friends who come to visit. Everyone from ages 2 to 90 has loved the food, catching the fish, and the accommodation. This is a working farm. This is the place you go to escape the hustle and bustle of the city and live simply and well. This is not the place you go to watch a giant television in your room for hours, I can do that at home. This is the place you go to reconnect with nature. The grounds are breathtaking and truly the essence of Australia. I love walking the grounds, patting animals, catching fish, roasting marshmallows, and sitting on the dock while the horses walk by. It’s only a 30 minute drive to Daylesford if you want to go shopping, go to a cafe, or do a myriad of other activities. There is a late night bar about 10/15 minutes away if you are looking for a night out. You can make an appointment to eat at the Tuki restaurant at night if you wish, but my favourite thing to do is to buy raw steaks, sausages, and other cuts of meat straight from the restaurant and grill it up myself on the barbecue available on their property. I will have breakfast and lunch at the Tuki restaurant. I really can’t say enough good things about this place and am honestly shocked by some of the bad reviews. All I can think is that people were trying to make this place something that it’s not.

My favourite place to go/eat/sleep and escape the city

We took our daughters and guide dog puppy to Tuki for Cup Weekend.

From the moment we arrived until we left we were astonished at how accomodating and professional their entire team and Tuki was.

The accomodation was beautiful, stone cabin with an open fire. It was very clean and homely.  In the room the beds were very comfortable. They provided ground coffee, multiple types of tea, a kitchenette. It was fantastic! 

The views look like they are off a post card and the Resturant food was so good that we intended to eat there twice but ate there 4 times. We even envied friends who live near by.

My girls and I loved the fishing which Tuki scaled gutted for us. We will enjoy our freshly caught trout for the next few days. Our whole family felt lucky enough to be there when they were shearing their sheep. We couldn’t keep our girls away. We felt so safe for our girls to interact with their friendly and brilliant shearer’s and staff. They all looked after them and were very careful and caring.

We will be bringing our wider family back in the future and our girls are already asking when we can go back. We will visit regularly.

Last cup weekend was Byron Bay but our girls want to go back to Tuki next year.

Incredible weekend Could not have been better

Been going for ? 30 years picking up trout and produce.  Stayed  a couple  times, eaten a number of times. This is a working farm,  people need to get that.  You won't get a better meal of lamb or boned trout in the middle of a paddock ! Love the cottages with open fires. Really comfy beds.  Private despite other guests staying close by.  Caught a great sunset as well.  

Best lamb and trout about. 

$560 for 2 nights a bit pricey.No eateries near by and Tuki restaurant doesn't open for dinner, hope you don't  mind cooking your own meals.Overall a disappointing experience. The cabins could do with an upgrade as our toilet leaked and at times we had no water.I hope the owners take notice of my honest assessment and make some changes.The biggest positives were the bed was very comfortable and breakfast was tasty

2 night cottage stay

I sat here for quite some time thinking about what I could write that would be positive and some tips to maybe help the owners but after reading the other reviews and the lack lustre response from the owners I felt that honesty is the best policy and to that end the best part of this establishment was the fact that our grandchildren(3) caught a fish each.
This property is so over rated and so overpriced it is not funny but the lack of attention to detail and the absolute lack of following health regulations left me wondering how the health deapartment has not at the very least cautioned them or shut them down until they comply.
We found spiders in supposedly fresh glasses,a dirty dog walking underneath tables in the restaurant, dirty cutlery and the owner serving meals after he had been on the grader leveling the road into the property with what can only assume were hands that were not washed.
Robert has an inflated idea of what constitutes good hospitality and it was very apparent that he has not traveled far from Smeaton if he thinks this is the best place in Australia as he will tell you often without being asked.
I so hate to put places down that are really trying but his attitude as the owner was crass to say the least and I believe the kindest thing I can say is that all the staff(including the owners ) need to complete a hospitality course in how to operate a restaurant.
I had to clean all knives and forks prior to eating as well as the plates.
The cleanest place in the whole property was the toilet and perhaps we should have eaten there instead of the restaurant.
To the owners I would just like to say  you have the ability to have a wonderful restaurant if you just clean it up a bit and learn how to treat people who after all are your bread and butter.
Robert was very keen to tell us he had the best farm anywhere in the world practically but I have been all around the world and Australia and have stayed and eaten at the very best and let me tell you you are not even close to good let alone the best.
Do yourselves a favour and complete the hospitality course and also a health management course while you are at it.

The owners can do better

Similar to last review. Rude owner with bad attitude, must rub off on staff whom also have poor customer service. Had a meal here, over an hour wait for meal to arrive, this is after they forgot to give us a menu when we first arrived. Staff and owner were not accommodating to simple requests. They simply don't care about customers.

Rude owner and staff

I went to dinner with my family.
We got seated to our tables and waited 15 mins for the menus. They forgot to give it to us.
When we ordered, it took an hour for the food to come. Considering there’s only three mains on the menu and for $35 minimum, have to wonder why. 
When it came, all the meals were small and we were left hungry after. Each of our mains came with potatoes, but they only gave a tiny bowl of potatoes for 6 people.

There was a massive glare on the window where we sat. We asked if we could move tables. They said each table was full. Fair enough. But as we waited for so long for the food, tables started emptying so we asked again. Again they said no cause all tables were full.
We saw multiple tables empty. I’m at a lost for words about this whole experience. 

Tuki Retreat

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