Arts & Culture
Galleries & Makers
The Fleurieu has long drawn painters, sculptors and ceramicists. Today it is dotted with galleries, open studios, public sculpture trails and annual art prizes.
9 places
Armfield Slip and Boatshed
A 1926 boatshed where wooden hulls are still saved
A working heritage boatshed on Riverside Drive where volunteers restore and build traditional wooden Murray River boats using century-old slipway equipment. Drop in on open days to watch the craft in action.
Big Easy Radio
$$Wine, music and a heritage stone cottage
A wine, music and lifestyle destination built around an 1875 stone cottage on Malpas Road, combining craft McLaren Vale wines with live music.
Gilbert's Motor Museum
Classic cars and motoring memorabilia
A family-run motor museum in the heart of Strathalbyn housing a rotating collection of classic cars, motoring memorabilia and vintage advertising.
Magpie Springs
$$Boutique wines and paintings on Willunga Hill
A boutique cellar door and working art gallery on the Willunga scarp, showcasing estate wines alongside paintings by Adelaide artist Avril Thomas in a garden setting with valley views.
Red Poles
$$Cafe, gallery and B&B on McMurtrie Road
Long-running McMurtrie Road cafe, restaurant, art gallery and B&B hidden in the bush behind Wirra Wirra - a McLaren Vale institution since the 1990s.
Red Poles Bed & Breakfast
$$Three-room B&B behind the Red Poles cafe
A three-room, pet-friendly B&B built around a central courtyard at Red Poles on McMurtrie Road, McLaren Vale - with the cafe, gallery and gardens on the doorstep.
The Gallery at McLaren Vale Visitor Centre
A contemporary art gallery built into the rammed-earth Visitor Centre at the entrance to McLaren Vale, with rotating exhibitions and sweeping views over the vineyards.
Willunga Courthouse Museum
Step into an 1855 courtroom and police lock-up
The 1855 Willunga Courthouse and adjoining police cells have been preserved as a pocket museum by the National Trust, complete with magistrate's bench, dock, cells and stables.
Willunga Slate Museum
Tools and tales from a slate-roofing empire
A small National Trust museum on Willunga's historic High Street dedicated to the 19th-century slate quarries that roofed half of South Australia. Entry is free and the galleries are packed with original tools, photographs and local stories.