Hidden Lanes - Ballarat & Victoria Tours

Hidden Lanes - Ballarat & Victoria Tours Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Hidden Lanes - Ballarat & Victoria Tours, 119 Sturt Street, Mount Clear.

Hidden Lanes Slow Travel Experiences
Ballarat Walking Tours & Local Experiences
☕ Quirky cafés
🕵️ Hidden laneways
✨ Local stories & secret spots
📍 Ballarat, Victoria

The grand rooms of Craig's Royal Hotel.
12/06/2026

The grand rooms of Craig's Royal Hotel.

Surprise! A little side of Hidden Lanes you might not know about…Alongside our walking tours, tea towels, postcards and ...
03/06/2026

Surprise! A little side of Hidden Lanes you might not know about…

Alongside our walking tours, tea towels, postcards and hand-drawn Ballarat pieces, Jarrod also creates custom illustrations for small businesses through The Ginkgo Tree Creative Studio.

This recent commission was for in Sydney, who wanted a vintage-style illustration for their branding and packaging: something with old-world charm, a touch of 1890s storybook atmosphere, and plenty of hand-drawn detail.

Seeing it on their candles is such a buzz!

It always means a lot when someone buys one of our prints, postcards or tea towels. But commissions are especially special, because someone is trusting you with the look and feel of their own business; and as small business owners ourselves, we know how close that sits to the heart.

Huge thanks to Maxina for trusting me with this piece.

Custom illustration enquiries are always welcome. 😉





I’m collapsed on the sofa at home after an exhausting and truly wonderful Thirteen tours of Craig’s Royal Hotel over fo...
24/05/2026

I’m collapsed on the sofa at home after an exhausting and truly wonderful

Thirteen tours of Craig’s Royal Hotel over four days, with over 200 guests in total. Fully sold out.

I bumped into many old friends, and made some new ones too, including this fabulous gang, Historica Living History, who came along fully attired in Edwardian, late Victorian and mid-Victorian costume, much of it made themselves!

I was genuinely gobsmacked and overjoyed that they came along. It was such a treat to chat about period costume with them over the amazing Devonshire tea provided by the staff at .

Thankyou to everyone who came along - it was lovely to meet you all and spend some time chatting about the incredibly history of the region.

The team at Craig’s were fantastic to work with, and it all went off like a dream.

Right now though, I need to collapse in an exhausted, quivering heap somewhere. My heart is full, but I’m so tired I can barely talk.

11/05/2026

17.04.2026 | Dear Diary, "Like a sponge, I’m soaking up the chaos of the outside world, the news, t... | Videos | Gan Jing World - Technology for Humanity | Video & Movie Streaming

It’s Ballarat’s grandest Gold Rush hotel … and it began life as a building made from corrugated iron.Before Craig’s Roya...
08/05/2026

It’s Ballarat’s grandest Gold Rush hotel … and it began life as a building made from corrugated iron.

Before Craig’s Royal Hotel became one of Ballarat’s great historic icons, it was known as The Ballarat Hotel. Within a year, that original iron hotel was replaced by a two-storey timber building, proudly featuring what’s believed to have been Ballarat’s first public clock.

Even better? In its early years, the hotel was lit by gas produced locally using eucalyptus leaves.

History is weird, wonderful, and sometimes surprisingly … refreshing for the sinuses.

For this year’s Ballarat Heritage Festival, we’re running special tours of Craig’s Royal Hotel, followed by Devonshire tea in one of the hotel’s delectably Victorian upstairs rooms.

We have 13 sessions across the four festival days, and 12 are now completely sold out.

There are just a handful of tickets remaining for the Friday morning session, so if you’d like to step inside Craig’s and hear the stories held within these walls, this is your last chance.

Book through our website.





Address

119 Sturt Street
Mount Clear, VIC
3350

Telephone

+61455528733

Website

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