This little-known Aussie wine town is one of the country's best-kept secrets

I rub my eyes, blink twice and look again. There, gliding across the road like a piece of enchanted Disney furniture, is a piano. Not any old piano mind, but one being piloted by four young adults. "We're playing at the Druids Hall tonight," they call. "Come and join us."

It's not a midwinter solstice gathering (that was last weekend) and no, I haven't been drinking (well, just one wine with lunch). This is Witchcliffe - Witchy to locals - and although it's only a 10-minute drive south of the well-known town of Margaret River, there's a different vibe down here.

From movers and makers to dreamers and schemers, Witchcliffe is one of the most progressive towns in Western Australia. So progressive, it has developed its own 120-hectare Witchcliffe Ecovillage, a residential community designed to be self-sufficient in renewable energy, water and fresh food produce.

Yet, for all its innovation, Witchcliffe is firmly rooted in old-school wine country. And that's where things get interesting.

After our brush with the runaway piano, we step through the gate to Amato Vino, a tasting bar found inside the Witch and Windmill building. Part wonderland, part blacksmith's forge the heritage-building is a glorious jumble of rusty cogs, worn metal and recycled timber.

While my husband studies the metal sculptures I turn my attention to the tasting wine flight ($15 for three 50ml samples). With a focus on small batch, minimal intervention wines Amato Vino is adding an adventurous note to Witchcliffe's wine scene. All are delicious, but it's the 2025 Fusa Bianco - a blend of marsanne and verdelho with a splash of chardonnay - that has me under its spell.

A few minutes' walk is Vintners Wine Bar and McHenry Hohnen Cellar Door, the newest charm in town. Housed in a purpose-built rammed-earth building, the venue is big-city cool with a warm country heart. The only dilemma is where to start; a guided wine tasting, wood-fired pizza or farm-to-table dining? We take the fourth option; a glass of sparkling wine by the fire.

Suitably fortified, we return to the Druids Hall where we are welcomed like family.

By day two I'm sporting a crocheted poncho and matching floral beanie. I have an armful of Penguin classics under one arm, a teapot under the other and a couple of brass candlesticks in my (calico) bag. And I'm only just getting started. The Flying Wardrobe second-hand store is my first stop on a treasure hunt through Witchy's vintage stores.

"In an age of mass consumerism and fast fashion we really wanted to create a business that focuses on sustainability whilst providing affordable and well made items," says owner Zoe Kent.

At the next stop we part ways; my husband disappears down the vinyl-lined rabbit hole of Beanhead Records, while I make a beeline for The Marritree, a literary hideaway where books, art and music come together.

Sitting cross-legged on the floorboards I succumb to the daydream of living in a town with such a bohemian bookstore, of attending writing sessions and poetry nights, and sipping coffee at the adjoining Witchy Brews espresso bar.

It all has a wonderful, nurturing feel. "I named the store in honour of a 450-year-old marri tree that stands on the edge of Witchcliffe," says owner Miranda Aitken. "It's known by locals as Grandmother or Mother Marri."

From a Thai red curry chicken pie at Witchy Pies and a Malaysian laksa in the cottage garden of Yardbyrd to a Korean beef rice bowl at Little Hand Dumplings, Witchcliffe's food scene is a melting pot of flavours.

A five-minute drive brings us to Idee Fixe, a contemporary sparkling wine estate created by the historic producer Vasse Felix. Just as the Witchcliffe Ecovillage has the single, bold vision of sustainability, Idee Fixe - which means "a fixed idea" - has a fixation (obsession?) with producing traditional-method Blanc de Blancs made exclusively from Margaret River chardonnay.

"It started with the discovery of a distinctive mix of chardonnay clones growing in a corner block of our southern vineyard," says hospitality manager Hayley Ward, pouring a sample of Premier Brut. Over the course of our tasting, we learn that the quartz breccia soil and chilly winds off the Southern Ocean produce a sparkling wine equal to the world's finest. From inside the Salon, we gaze through walls of glass as the late afternoon sun waves its golden wand across the vineyards. "You can almost taste the sea spray," says Hayley pouring the final Brut Reserve. "It's magic in a bottle."

And that's the beauty of Witchcliffe - whether you're here for its heritage charm or contemporary ideas, the whole town crackles with a creative spark.

The writer was a guest of Tourism WA