Heide (named after nearby Heidelberg) was the home of John and Sunday Reed from the mid-1930s; it became a mecca for artists from across Australia and finally became a public art gallery in 1981, just before the Reeds' deaths. As well as the art gallery buildings there are 15 acres of beautiful landscaped gardens with tin cows grazing in meadows and quirky sculptures everywhere. You can picnic (as we did) on the grass surrounded by beautiful trees, spending a lovely autumn morning there without even going in to the gallery, though plenty of people did and even more seemed to be eating splendidly in Café Vue. A wonderful place just at the back of the hideous three lane highways and bland industrial wasteland of suburban north-east Melbourne.
