Mr & Mrs Smith

Bothwell may be small, but it's blessed with a quirky small cafe and wine bar. Elm Corner (20, Alexander Street; www.elm-corner.webs.com), with its large low casement windows and tippie-toes-high, behind-the-counter shelving, was once the village grocers and now serves gourmet grub and great coffee in retro surroundings. There's a surprisingly high-end gift shop attached in case you need some designer wellies or hip hand-stitched cushions to take home.

Nant Whisky Distillery (+61(0)3 6259 5790; www.nantdistillery.com.au) is five minutes down the road, housed in a beautiful 1821 convict-built sandstone building with a working watermill. Ratho Golf Course (+61 (0)4 0959 5702; www.rathogolf.com) is across the road from The Priory Country Lodge and is the oldest in Australia. Thorpe Farm Cheese (189 Dennistoun Road, Bothwell; +61 (0)3 6259 5678) produces the award-winning Tasmanian Highland Cheeses range – their goat's cheese is worth the short journey alone.

April The six-day, 2000km classic-car rally Targa Tasmania (www.targatasmania.com.au) wheels across Tasmania every year, carving up stretches of isolated (and very beautiful) Tassie tarmac. Expect the big machines to roar through the southern Central Highlands. May Discover your inner Braveheart at The Bothwell Highland Fling and Golf Ball, featuring whisky tasting and Gaelic folk music; coincides with the end of the Australian Golf Heritage Festival (www.rathogold.com/festival). August Kicking off the new fly-fishing season, the Tasmanian Trout Expo (www.tasmaniantroutexpo.com.au) happens in late August every year in Cressy in northern Tasmania, on the northern edge of the Central Highlands. September Tasmania’s Southern Football League (www.southernfootball.com.au) Grand Final happens in late September: will the Central Hawks (starring Bothwell’s finest players) be there this year? October Just north of the Highlands, Deloraine hosts the massive Tasmanian Craft Fair (www.tascraftfair.com.au) every spring: a creative cauldron of jewellery making, glass-blowing, knitting, painting, sculpture, gourmet food and wine.