Mr & Mrs Smith

Mansion Hotel & Spa

Melbourne, Australia

Once a Jesuit seminary, Mansion Hotel & Spa, a boutique hotel just outside Melbourne, has slipped off its chastity belt to become a favourite weekend escape for pleasure-seeking city folk. The 1870s Italianate manor has been joined by a modern wing, and restraint and religious instruction have been replaced with a romantic restaurant, slinky cocktail bar and a seriously seductive day spa. Surrounded by Australia's largest parterre gardens, polo grounds and an award-winning sculpture park, this hedonistic hotel is the ultimate adults' hideaway.

Need to know

• Rooms 91, including eight suites.
• Rates Double rooms from $254.91 (AU$262), excluding tax at 10 per cent.
  Prices have been converted from the hotel's local currency (AU$262), via XE.com, using today's exchange rate.
• More details Rates include à la carte breakfast, access to Werribee Park and wine tasting at Shadowfax Winery. Room-only rates are available on request.
• Facilities Spa, steam rooms, gym, tennis court, gardens, library, snooker room, free WiFi in common areas. In rooms: flatscreen TV, minibar, movies on demand and broadband internet.
• Poolside Flanked by slate-grey day-beds, the heated indoor pool is filled with light from floor-to-ceiling windows, and illuminated by striking downlights at night.
• Check-out 11am, but flexible subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 2pm.
• Children It's not only big Smiths who'll be smitten with a weekend in Werribee – juniors of all ages are happily accommodated. More...
• Also Smoking isn't permitted in the hotel, and neither are pets – we wouldn't want Fido digging up the rose bushes.

Food and drink at Mansion Hotel & Spa

• Hotel restaurant Joseph's Restaurant & Bar is a dark, handsome space of plush charcoal carpets and padded walls, gracefully arching windows and floaty burgundy curtains. At breakfast, choose from the buffet or an à la carte menu. Later in the day, expect modern Australian fare from chef Marcus Levy, who plucks fresh produce straight from the kitchen garden.
  
• Dress code Country-chic by night, polo-casual by day. A word to the wise: leave your Jimmy Choos at home – those pebbled walkways are hell on high heels.
• Top table In the evening, ask for an intimate table for two by the windows, which overlook Australia's largest parterre garden.
• Last orders Breakfast, 10.30am (10am weekdays); lunch, 2.30pm; dinner, 9.00pm.
• Room service Available 24 hours a day. A breakfast menu is served from 6.30am–11am. From 10.30am–11pm, order from the restaurant's main menu. Beyond that time, there's a more limited line-up of dishes.
• Hotel bar Joseph's Bar is an intimate spot for pre- or post-prandial sipping. At the gleaming stainless-steel bar, order a boutique brew or a glass of wine from the sexy back-lit selection, then linger over posh bar snacks, such as crunchy school prawns with aioli, and a wicked 'adults-only' macaroni cheese.
  

Also worth knowing

• Weddings This property is suitable for weddings. More...

Mansion Hotel & Spa Werribee Park, K Road, Werribee South, Victoria, 3030