COMPILED BY RICHARD CORNISH

1. Woodland Festival

Have you ever looked at a piece of timber and imagined transforming it into a beautiful piece of furniture or a dinnerware. The 2018 Woodland Festival (March 24-25) is a weekend workshop/festival held on a bush block at Lauriston near Kyneton. Using local timbers participants will learn skills from international woodworkers such as Amy Umbell from the U.S.A. who specialising in bowls carved finished with hand painted patterns inspired by American quilts. Also teaching is Jeff “The Spoonsmith’ Donne from N.S.W. who has a ‘whole tree’ approach to carving. Building on the sense community is the shared-table slow-cooked meat dinner on the Saturday night.
www.trybooking.com

2. Paella! Paella!

The crew at the historic Glenlyon General Store are holding a post-Easter celebration of all things Spanish on Saturday April 7 with a paella night and Spanish wine and sherry tasting. It kicks off around 4.30pm with a hands-on paella class with food writer Richard Cornish – he co-authored the Movida cookbooks with Frank Camorra. While the paella is cooking the team from Spanish Aquisition will be talking about sherry and regional Spanish wines. Then it is time for some pan catalan – tomato and garlic on toast, more tapas then the paella. With a flamenco guitarist this is going to be a sensational evening. Buon provecho!
Call (03) 5348 7922 for bookings. 

3. Festival of Small Halls

After the Port Fairy Folk Festival finishes and before the National Folk Festival in Canberra starts some of the performers join a performance trail that links the two events. It’s called the Festival of Small Halls in which artists travel to small halls and other community buildings in regional Australia. On Wednesday March 28 the festival comes to Scrub Hill near Dean. The old 1869 bluestone church has been renovated and transformed into a performance and community space and this will be the stage for Dave Gunning from Canada and Anne Taylor from Tasmania. Gunning is a multitalented performer who brings humour and stories to his roots music while Taylor has the most hauntingly beautiful voice. Door open at 6.30pm.
Book at festivalofsmallhalls.com

4. New Weekly Daylesford Farmers Market

On Sunday 18 March local food champion Gary Thomas will be joined by around 20 of the region’s best local growers and producers in what should be one of the best little markets in the area. Expect free range pork, beef, lamb and venison, some excellent seasonal vegetables, new seasons apples, pears and nuts. It’s being held around a beautiful old shed/warehouse opposite the Sunday Market inside which will be local artists and lost trades artisan practitioners. This will be an important addition to the local food landscape. 
Editors note: Due to some unexpected delays, the new weekly Daylesford Farmers Market may not kick off until later in the month.

Daylesford Sunday Farmers Market,
21a Raglan St, Daylesford.

5. Stockroom

Stockroom is a brilliant artspace, commercial gallery and clothing store housed in an old butter factory in Piper St, Kyneton. Come on Saturday March 17 from 4.30pm for the opening of their March-April show. In Gallery One is Robert Hague’s large stainless steel piece called JOY which came after the death his own father in May last year. Gallery Two hosts Adam Cusack’s show called sideshow about celebrity, profit, consent and freedom by placing ostensibly unrelated objects together. In the third gallery, Project Space, is a video installation by Sal Cooper called Prelude to a Fugue. 

98 Piper St, Kyneton; stockroomspace.com