Hidden Lanes - Ballarat & Victoria Tours

Name: Hidden Lanes - Ballarat & Victoria Tours
Address: 119 Sturt Street, Mount Clear, VIC, 3350, AU
Telephone: +61455528733
Price range: $$

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Hidden Lanes - Ballarat & Victoria Tours

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

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. 😉

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

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.

03/05/2026

I stumbled across this beautiful little Ensign Ful-Vue in Antiques, Goods & Chattels on Main Road, and I’m in love.

Every time I bring a tour through, I have to work hard to stay focused because Sheryn always has new treasures from farm sheds and estates. Right now, she has an incredible collection of vintage cameras, and this made-in-England Ensign Ful-Vue was one I couldn’t walk past!

I used to teach photography and still work in video, so I have a real soft spot for old cameras. I would have loved to take the whole collection home, but managed to leave with just this one!

It’s a post-war medium format box camera, and while I will probably never load film into it, the magic is in the viewfinder.

Looking down into it, the image is big, soft and slightly dreamy. I’ve just been holding my phone over the top and taking photos through it … and I can’t stop. 😍

There is something endlessly fascinating about seeing the world through this funny little box.

If you have even a passing interest in old cameras, it’s well worth heading down to Sheryn’s shop at the moment. There are some absolute beauties in there from the ‘40s through to the ‘60s, (movies & stills) and every single one is a cracker.

01/05/2026

How amazing is this? 🤩😮

29/04/2026

Craig’s Royal Hotel has been part of Ballarat since 1853, its the oldest hotel in the city, and it carries more history than most people realise.
I wanted this drawing to feel, not like just a drawing of the building, but like something you might’ve picked up 100+ years ago.
The artwork is based on a historical photograph, drawn by hand … on an iPad.
No AI shortcuts. It’s the same process as pen and ink, just without the mess (and with a very handy undo button)!
I use old Victorian-era posters and advertisements as references - especially for the typography, frills and decoration. The lettering here is borrowed from real posters, ads and packaging from the 1800s.
For me, this kind of work is about more than just documentation, it’s about finding the character in it… the slightly magical version of it… and bringing that forward.
This piece is an ad for our Craig’s Royal Hotel Building Tour & Devonshire Tea for the Ballarat Heritage Festival in May.
We’ll have a small number of A5 prints available to buy at the tour for anyone who’d like to take one home. The sessions are almost sold out now.
If you can’t make it along, they’ll also be available on our website after the festival, and in a few select stores around Ballarat.
👉 Details and bookings via our website

Address

119 Sturt Street
Mount Clear, VIC
3350

Telephone

+61455528733

Website

https://www.hiddenlanes.com.au/

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