A good deal - lunch in the Yarra valley

“a package is simply a bundling of services that people want”. Professor Graham Miller, University of Surrey

Yesterday we went with friends into the beautiful Yarra Valley for lunch. It was a super deal from one of those internet companies that have deals for all manner of things. I'm afraid I don't know which one. My children do this all the time - look for deals on this and that, and it enables them to do all sorts of interesting and exciting things. I probably should do it too - and indeed I get regular emails from Cudo - one of those companies - because I used them once for something.

I wonder when people first starting 'packaging' things and putting together good deals? I know that Thomas Cook was one of the first to organise tours abroad but I really don't know much more about it. So I did my usual cursory search.

Alas I didn't find out much about all the deals we get through Cudo and Scoopon, etc. but I did find out a little bit more about holiday packaging, albeit mostly in England.

And I was right - it was Thomas Cook who first took a Temperance group on a train from Leicester to Lougborough in 1841. In 1855 he, more adventurously, took two groups to Belgium, Germany and France. Some of his later tours were even more adventurous and took in places like Egypt and India. He also invented the predecessor of the traveller's cheque. Whatever happened to them? These days it's all done with cards and ATMs isn't it?

Interestingly I thought Thomas Cook was American, but apparently not.

Before Thomas Cook the British underclass just saved up for a short time at the seaside. You're never that far from the seaside in England. And they built grand hotels, small hotels and guest houses and piers for the entertainment of all. And here's a coincidence - my sister is thinking about trying to see all those old piers before they all disappear. Now that could be interesting.

However the real boom in package tours and holidays came just after WW2. Professor Miller explains how Spain and Mallorca came to be so big in the British idea of a holiday.

“Simple things made a big difference. For example, there were lots of aeroplanes left over from the last world war. There was a big supply of planes, so that increased supply led to a reduction in the prices of flights.

“Then Spain and southern Europe were trying to rebuild their economies. They had to consider what they had to sell; they had sun, they had beaches – so they put up hotels and there was an industry.”

I remember as a child sending off for all the brochures for such holidays. With what intent I have no idea because we certainly never went on any of these holidays. They centred around the Mediterranean and sun and sand and included such 'faraway' exotic places as Yugoslavia. I must have wanted to see them all.

But then I gather there was a big crash in 1974 when several companies went bust and tourists were stranded. It revived of course, and the British in their millions still flock to the Costa Brava and other such places for a bit of sun. They even go to Dubai for an excess of it - and shopping. Only now they do it all online - deals for the flights, deals for the hotels, package deals as well. I believe that travel agents are suffering hugely. And packages are not just for the poor. We tend to mock all those tourists - we mock tourists in general - even though we are all ultimately tourists - in such places. But it's all they can afford and it's a big adventure for them even if they do still eat fish and chips and drink beer. It's a snobby thing we do -

"sneering at people for enjoying a more traditional break is like mocking people who pick a burger and chips over a Heston Blumenthal taster menu. Not everyone wants snail porridge." Felicity Hannah - Covered

But the wealthy and the educated also make huge use of package holidays, particularly the elderly. Such tours can be massively exclusive and cost a fortune - just take at look at the Captain's Choice offerings to see that.

So that's holidays, but nowadays we package everything else imaginable and have online deals coming at us all the time. Hence our lovely meal out in the Yarra Valley at the Vines Restaurant in the Helen Hill vineyard.

I think it was two courses, a glass of wine, and coffee for $80.00 for two. Which was a really good deal for food which was a cut above the average. I had the slow-roasted pork as my main course - a version of which is shown below:

Interestingly it was described as having an apple and walnut crumble and also listed as nut free! We pointed this out to the waitress, who, like us, was intrigued. It didn't matter to us at all but we thought it amusing. The first course was a very generous platter of in-house things like rillettes, chermoula prawns and smoked trout paste, and local specialities like goat's cheese feta. The service was efficient and wonderfully friendly and warm.

I suspect, however, that the main business of the restaurant is weddings. If you go to their website you will see that it is almost all about weddings, and the people just in front of us when we arrived had actually come to discuss a wedding. The Home page has an opening shot of the Yarra Valley and from there it's all weddings. Weddings are big in the Yarra Valley vineyards and the competition must be intense. For there are so many to choose from. All with superb views and classy restaurants, and mostly very nice food. The restaurant was pretty full though - and not all of them were having the deal lunch. You could tell, because those of us on a deal had a set menu at our table on arrival. Credit to the restaurant though - we were treated just like everyone else.

So I should take to checking out the deals on offer. Currently looking for one for a week's holiday in Port Douglas later in the year.

Vines - try it.