It's fitting that the house of art patrons John and Sunday Reed in suburban Bulleen now functions as the Heide Museum of Modern Art (heide.com.au; adult/child $27/free), as the couple played an important role in the development of Australian modernism. Between the late 1930s and early 1960s, they opened their home to artists, including Sidney Nolan, Albert Tucker and Joy Hester, who lived and worked here.
One of the buildings is a modest farmhouse, while another is an architecturally significant home designed by David McGlashan and built in the late 1960s. The exhibitions staged across the site are uniformly excellent. An additional reason to visit is the sculpture park on the banks of the Yarra River. The on-site cafe is top notch, too. The museum is closed on Mondays.
Tours are free with entry tickets and run regularly – check the website for details. Also check for the Makers' Market, a collaboration between Heide and the Rose Street Artists' Market, held on the second Saturday of each month from September through May. There are also "detective" and "sculpture sounds" trail maps to keep the kids busy.
Bulleen is 14km northeast of the city center and Heide is located next to Banksia Park, which is part of the Main Yarra Trail, a flat, 33km bike trail from Westerfolds Park in Templestowe to Southbank, which passes native trees and billabongs.
