At only 24km from the city, and with both urban amenity and country charm on your doorstep, Lifestyle Deanside has the best of both worlds. A 20-minute drive from the start of the Macedon Ranges and a 30-minute drive from Tullamarine Airport mean that travel and adventure are close by. Accountants, banks, optometrists, mechanics, libraries and all the shopping you could need are close at hand, and with a number of medical centres, dentists, pharmacies and allied health clinics all under 10 minutes away – plus Sunshine Hospital a 20-minute drive – your health needs are well catered for too.

Taylors Hill Village: Medical centre, chemist, dentist
HomeCo. Woodlea Town: Medical centre, chemist, dentist, physio
Watervale Shopping Centre: Medical clinic, pharmacy, dentist
Caroline Springs: Medical centres, pharmacies, specialist allied health, multiple dental and orthodontic clinics

With activities to suit all tastes, there’s always something exciting to get stuck into in and around Lifestyle Deanside. Embrace the country character of the region with fruit picking, markets and produce festivals, and join in the fun at Melbourne Runabout and Speedboat Club on Melton Reservoir. Let your creative juices flow with a pottery class at Connie Lichti Ceramics and Pottery School or at any of the regular city council arts programs, or sit back and take in other people’s art at CS Gallery. For sports lovers, Melton Valley Golf Club is only a 15-minute drive away, and the Taylors Hill and St Albans bowling clubs are even closer. There’s also fun for the whole family with ten pin bowling in nearby Taylors Lakes. The Entertainment Complex at WestWaters Hotel hosts comedy, trivia and live music, and with Reading Cinema Melton and Hoyts Watergardens close by, you’ll always be able to catch the latest indie flick or Hollywood blockbuster.

Just minutes’ drive from Lifestyle Deanside, you’ll find all the staples, including cafés, patisserie, pizza, kebab and grill, burgers, charcoal chicken, pho, fish and chips, Indian, Malaysian and Mexican cuisine. Izumi Japanese Restaurant, Billy’s Paddock and Slices Caroline Springs are 10 minutes away, as are cafés Mr Nomane and Toscanini’s in CS Square. Combine your meal with music at Round Rock Winery and Taphouse, or soak up some history at Ms Peacock Restaurant & Bar at historic Eynesbury Homestead. The Gamekeepers Secret Inn & Restaurant has a cosy traditional pub feel, while around the corner, Witchmount Estate Winery has a range of dining options, from cellar door to private events.

Whether it’s markets or shopping centres you’re after, Lifestyle Deanside is well serviced. Farmgates, farmers’ markets and even festivals dedicated to fruit (Strawberry and Cherry Festival, anyone?), plus nearby cellar doors, mean you can buy produce direct from vendors, while also having all the convenience of the big supermarkets and shopping centres nearby. IGA Plumpton is 5 minutes away, while several Coles, Woolworths and an Aldi are all 7-8 minutes away. Spice shops and specialty supermarkets abound, and it’s only a few minutes’ drive to the nearest Indian supermarket. Watergardens Shopping Centre is your hub for all the big stores, with Brimbank Shopping Centre and CS Square also adding shops like Kmart and Target into the mix. For hardware and gardening supplies, there are a number of Bunnings and tool shops nearby, plus nurseries galore, including at Rockbank, Truganina and Plumpton.

Lived in and managed for tens of thousands of years by members of the Kulin Nation, there are many reminders of this history in and around the greater region, from scar trees in Pinkerton Forest and Melton Golf Course to earth rings to the north in Sunbury.

Relics of the area’s pastoral history also abound. Regarded as among the best-preserved examples in the country, dry stone walls line several roads, some only minutes from Lifestyle Deanside, just a little way down Sinclairs Road. The start of a dry stone wall driving trail begins at The Willows Historic Park, which houses a homestead, two cottages and historic farming equipment. The Deanside Homestead Complex is the former head station of a vast pastoral empire, and is only 4 minutes’ drive away.

When gold fever hit and thousands upon thousands of people made the pilgrimage to the goldfields, the City of Melton area played a vital role in providing sustenance, supplies and accommodation to those passing though. The Rockbank Inn was a stopover for many on their way to the goldfields, and its bluestone ruins, near historic Beatty’s Bridge over the Kororoit Creek, are less than 10 minutes away.

Lifestyle Deanside is located in easy reach of gorgeous state parks and conservation reserves, plus lots of local parks, playgrounds and areas just for doggies. Woodlea Adventure Park and Orbis Avenue Playground are good options for when the grandkids are over, and Iverson Fenced Dog Park is just a couple of minutes down the road, so it’s easy to burn off some of that crazy canine energy! There’s nice walking along Stony Point Creek (which feeds into Kororoit Creek to the south), and the Deanside wetlands trail is less than 10 minutes’ drive away.

Organ Pipes National Park, with its basalt rock formations, is great for a photo op, while Long Forest Nature Conservation Reserve is home an outlying population of bull mallee, which normally grows further north. Scar trees and artefacts from Indigenous habitation have been found in Pinkerton Forest, which is only a 20-minute drive away, while driving a little further will get you to Lerderderg State Park or Werribee Gorge State Park, both of which offer rugged landscapes and spectacular vistas.