Sheffield

Things to do

Visit the 200 Murals that are throughout the tiny town
Lake Barrington
Lake Barrington Estate Winery
Mt Roland
Mt Claude
Tazmazia and the village of Lower Crackpot
Fern Glade Platypus

Sheffield is a town 23 kilometres inland from Devonport north west Tasmania. Sheffield has earn’t its reputation as Tasmania’s Outdoor Art Gallery. Murals can be found on every street corner, main streets and into neighbouring areas. With over 200 available to view they all hold their own stories. A committee was formed in 1980 with a sole purpose of reviving this little town. Some of the committee saw a documentary of reviving a small town in Canada the idea was presented and accepted and the project began to get artist on board to make this place into what it is today. Mural fest which has evolved over the years ensures that they provide unique and contemporary art comprising of mural painting competitions yearly. Artist come from all over the world to compete and hopefully get the prize of winning mural and artist for the year.

Just on the outskirts of Sheffield is a place called Tazmazia and the village of lower crackpot. The founder Brian Indler the self proclaimed Chief Magistrate and Sheriff of Lower Crackpot brought his dream to life with absurd scale-model town, and politically incorrect dad jokes. It is a quirky model village built to 1/5 scale with plenty of unusual sites and mazes. There is a trip around the World Embassy Gardens with buildings dedicated to over 40 countries and very well thought put into each countries Embassy. For example Iceland was a Freezer and my homeland of New Zealand had a Marae our traditional meeting house. There is also a total of 8 magical mazes to lose yourself completely in. The only one i struggled with was the confusing maze go figure .

Once you have finished being amazed by this place there is a Lavendar farm shop and cafe on your way out. The entry fees a quite reasonable as you can spend a couple of hours walking around this place taking all the quirkiness in.

If you’re into hiking Mt Roland is a 15 minute drive out of Sheffield. The mountain is also another draw card for this town and sits as a backdrop . Mount Roland stands at 1233 metres above sea level and is a grade 3 climb. . The walk takes in the plains and plateau leading to the summit. There are 2 hiking tracks the first one is not recommended as it is very steep in places and dangerous. The second one is the preferred and can take from 4-6 hours return. This has a moderate incline so if you want a day out with nature take this one.

Lake Barrington is a 20 minute drive from Sheffield and is an artificial lake. Located 40 kms south of Devonport the lake is 20 kms long and was built on the Forth River in 1969 to provide water for devils gate power station. There is also Lake Barrington Campground here which is located up on the hill behind the rowing club. You get stunning views from here and it is very peaceful during the week

We stayed at an Airbnb and had the most wonderful views of Mt Roland. Around 230 am the sky lit up and we got an amazing picture of the pink sky and stars. There is so much to do in this little town and they have great bakeries and cafes to make your stay even more enjoyable