By Parker McKenzie
Grants Picnic Ground is a much loved destination for tourists and locals alike in Sherbrooke, located 41km east of Melbourne, where the wide clearing in Sherbrooke forest is home to an abundance of native birds and animals throughout the year.
The park is home to lyrebirds, wallabies, echidnas, wombats and rare plants and trees. An abundance of the world’s tallest flowering tree, the mountain ash, towers over the picnic ground as people enjoy the trails and BBQ areas.
Some of the trails go only a short distance, while others can take up to two hours to walk. At the beginning of the trails sits Grants on Sherbrooke, a restaurant, cafe and bar that can trace its heritage to the tea rooms located on the grounds.
The tea rooms at Grants Picnic Ground in Sherbrooke have a long history, starting with William Grant — who the area was named after — selling boiling water from a tin shed to tourists frequenting the mountain after he settled in the area in 1900.
The original kiosk and tea rooms at Grants Picnic Ground were built in the 1950s or 1960s, with a contemporary flat roof and flagstone cladding. It was a single storey, simple and rectangular building, featuring four double doors across the front and wooden booths and small wooden tables providing seating for guests to enjoy their refreshments.
It served locals, day-trippers and international tourists, with the location being one of the few where people could feed wild birds in their natural habitat.
In 2000, current owners Geoff and Cheryl Campbell took over the lease of the kiosk. 25-year locals of the Dandenong Ranges, Mr and Mrs Campbell renovated the building in 2004 to feature a licensed restaurant and bar, takeaway area, a collection of Australiana souvenirs and a decking area under the Mountain Ash Sherbrooke Forest is famous for.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, 750,000 people visited Grants Picnic Ground each year. It is located at 70 Monbulk Road, Kallista.
