THE SPACE

Eleven accommodation wings cluster around the main Heritage Hotel and Conference Centre building and a characterful 19th-century timber ballroom. Many of them opened in the 1930s when Erskine House – as it was known then – reached peak popularity. Today there are 277 rooms, configured between resort rooms and one-bedroom self-contained apartments. On-site facilities include a croquet pitch, lawn bowls, putting green, lawn and synthetic tennis courts, indoor swimming pool, gymnasium and Endota Day Spa. An outdoor cinema also operates during summer months.

THE ROOM

Lorne Pier is visible through a gap in the cypress pines from our one-bedroom ocean view apartment. We're in the Laird wing – named after John Laird, one of the two Geelong architects (the other was Tom Buchan) who designed the 1936 and 1939 extensions to the original heritage-listed main buildings. It's a cosy, European-sized apartment and was one of the 110 rooms recently refurbished with updated furnishings and fittings, buffed floorboards and a new lick of paint. The bedroom is spacious – almost as big as the open-plan living area. The lounge has twin sofas – one a sofa bed. Larger families can book adjoining apartments. There are also shared laundry facilities.

THE FOOD

The kitchen in our self-contained apartment includes full cooking facilities – stovetop, oven, microwave, full-size fridge/freezer and dishwasher. One oversight is a lack of space for storing food; a small pantry would be handy. And on summer evenings a barbecue would be appreciated on the balcony, where sulphur-crested cockatoos are regular visitors. Otherwise there's The Larder restaurant, which spills outside to a beer garden that opens during summer weekends. Buffet breakfasts are served daily from 7-10.30am, with an Italian-inspired a la carte menu available from 5pm onwards. Happy Hour also starts then – the new bar was part of the refurbishments, as was the adjacent lounge bar that's an ideal sitting room for winter aperitifs beside the fireplace. When it comes to local restaurants and cafes, you're spoiled for choice along Mountjoy Parade. Take your pick from seafood, Middle Eastern, Asian and Mexican cuisines or simple old fish 'n chips beside the beach.

STEPPING OUT

Louttit Bay is a lovely family beach rarely attracting the sizeable swells that can roll in from the Southern Ocean around these parts. The foreshore contains the Lorne Sea baths, a trampoline centre, skate park and adventure playground – enough to keep kids of all ages amused. The town is surrounded by the Great Otway National Park, where hikes and drives through the temperate rainforest of the Otway Ranges lead to gushing waterfalls and tranquil picnic areas. Erskine Falls, nine kilometres inland, is the best-known and most frequented waterfall in the region. Cape Otway is a 90-minute drive southwest and the Twelve Apostles a further 30 minutes away. Bells Beach is 40 minutes in the opposite direction.

ESSENTIALS

Mantra Lorne, Mountjoy Parade, Lorne, VIC 3232. Family Adventure Packages in a one-bedroom apartment start from $199*, including full buffet breakfast, complimentary bike, lawn bowls and buggy use. Couples Escape Packages in a Heritage Hotel Room include two glasses of wine, share plate, full buffet breakfast and late check-out from $149*.

* Prices valid until December 25, 2015. One-bedroom apartments cost $319 during January, or $379 in February – room-only

HIGHLIGHT

The resort's proximity to the beach and shopping strip. Park your car, then forget it.

LOWLIGHT

Sorting out a botched reservation then discovering another car in our allocated parking space.