For guests arriving late or who would like to be pampered, we can supply the following food packages for order at the time of your accommodation booking or 7 days prior to arrival. Our food packages feature local, seasonal and organic produce. Please advise us of any food allergies or special dietary requirements.

About 1.5 hours from Melbourne, about an hour from Tullamarine International Airport, 20 minutes to Daylesford, 45 minutes from Bendigo and Ballarat, 15 minutes to Castlemaine & 5 minutes to Maldon.

From Melbourne take the Calder Highway/Freeway and exit at the Pyrenees Highway to Castlemaine, continue 15 minutes past Castlemaine to Newstead. Or train to Castlemaine station & bus to Newstead.

Find The Chapel Newstead across the road from the General Store.

Vicroads Country Directory Page 59 B3 (Click the map on the left to enlarge it.)

Wander down the long elm lined main street past the verandah fronts of historic stores to the Loddon River with its majestic red river gums.

Visit the gorgeous 'Red Store' with interesting antiques & collectables. Lunch at DIG cafe, dinner at the pub, takeaways from the General Store, coffee & cake at the Bakery, or order an organic produce to collect & buy local meats to BBQ back 'home' at The Chapel

Explore the picturesque bush land & farming countryside. Soak up the fresh air, beautiful sunsets and bright night stars.

Local attractions include golf, bush walking, wildlife & bird watching, horse riding, cycling, fishing, boating and swimming at nearby Cairn Curran Reservoir or Newstead pool.

The Chapel is a great base in the tourist ‘golden triangle’ close to the historic towns of Maldon, Castlemaine & Daylesford and midway between Bendigo & Ballarat, and Avoca and Heathcote.

Enjoy the numerous cafés, restaurants and wineries, the stunning architecture, historic houses, gardens, art galleries, theatre, Maldon-Castlemaine steam train or gold mining tours. The area hosts regular arts, music, food, garden and wine events.

Or simply enjoy your private retreat at The Chapel Newstead.

The Chapel was built in 1860 for a new Primitive Methodist Church, the first in the thriving gold mining town. Prior to this time the Primitive Methodists held services in the home of William Ibbotson, who owned and later partly donated the chapel land to the Church. The Castlemaine Advertiser reported that on 30 November 1860 the chapel bell was sounded to announce the opening service: “The sound of the Church bell, these valleys and rocks never heard”. The chapel was built in the Gothic style, “devoid of ornament, eminently characteristic of the unostentatious mode of worship followed there”. It was said to seat 100 comfortably and to give “grace and respectability to Newstead”.

In 1906 the Chapel was sold to the Mackenzie Lodge of Freemasons who had formed in 1857. The Methodists moved to a larger new Church further along Lyons Street on the corner of Wyndham Street , now the Uniting Church .

The Freemasons held their first meeting at their new lodge on 27 February 1907. They added a rear brick hall to the Chapel in the 1970’s. In 2003, after almost a century of occupying the property, the Freemasons sold the property to join with the Southern Cross Lodge in Maldon.

The Chapel was restored and renovated in 2004–5, recovering original windows and glass, Baltic pine floor and lining boards which had been boarded up, painted and covered for almost a century. Now operating as self-contained accommodation since 2005, the light & character filled space has been enjoyed by hundreds of guests who consistently tell us how much they love its historic charms juxtaposed with contemporary living.