4 Best Sights in The Clare Valley, South Australia

The area's first winery, Sevenhill Cellars was created by the Jesuits, and they still run the show, with any profits going to education, mission work, and the needy within Australia. In the 1940s the winery branched out from sacramental wine to commercial production, and today make a variety of styles including Riesling (try the St. Francis Xavier label), Verdelho, Grenache, and fortified wines. Enjoy a tasting (A$10, redeemable), then head on a self-guided tour of the grounds that takes in the cellars, the cemetery, and the church crypt where Jesuits have been interred since 1865.

This town full of character—and characters—about 44 km (27 miles) northeast of Clare is worth a detour. The discovery of copper in 1845 made Burra the country's largest inland town but the ore ran out quickly (the biggest mine closed after just 32 years) and Burra settled into a quiet existence. Today the 11 km (7 miles) Heritage Trail leads you to 49 sites related to Burra's rich mining past: the A$30 Heritage Passport (available from the visitor information center) includes a booklet with information about each of the sites on the trail and free entry to eight locked sites and museums—these include the massive open-cut Monster Mine; two "homes" dug into the banks of Burra Creek, where some 2,000 people lived before a flood in 1851; and colonial Redruth Gaol, which appeared in Australian film Breaker Morant. It includes a guidebook, map, and a key to eight locked historic sites and four museums.

Riding the Riesling Trail from Clare to Auburn is one of the best ways to explore the valley—it takes around 2½ hours to cycle the whole thing (one-way), unless, of course, you get distracted by the wineries along the way. This 35-km-long (22-mile-long) cycling track follows the path of the old rail line that sliced through the hills until it was irreparably damaged by the 1983 Ash Wednesday bushfires. Bikes (including helmets, which are mandatory in Australia) for both adults and kids (and baby seats) can be rented from Clare Valley Cycle Hire. If you want to make life a bit easier, consider an e-bike with a small motor.

Just outside the slate-mining hamlet of Mintaro, 10 km (6 miles) southeast of Sevenhill, wealthy bachelor Edmund Bowman built this gracious 32 room manor house in 1879—as legend has it, to lure his fiancée from England to the colonies. He failed, but continued to spend lavishly. In 1891 a near-bankrupt Bowman sold the grand house to the Mortlock family, who in 1965 willed it—and its contents—to the University of Adelaide. Now privately leased, Martindale Hall is a museum of late-19th- and early-20th-century rural life, filled with the Mortlocks' books, beds, furniture, crockery, glassware, and billiard table, The house, which is open for self-guided tours, was featured in director Peter Weir's first film, Picnic at Hanging Rock.