The Mornington Peninsula has a new luxury hotel - Jackalope. Situated in Merricks North, on an 11-hectare winery planted in 1989, Jackalope has redefined boutique accommodation.

46 designer rooms have floor-to-ceiling windows, some with private terraces overlooking the vineyards. Each and every room has a rain shower which is complimented by custom-made bath products by Hunter Lab, with larger rooms also containing deep-soak luxury Japanese baths.

The exceptional rooms and architecture were created by Carr Design Group, who worked in collaboration with Fabio Ongarato Design on the branding and graphics. One of our favourite Melbourne furniture designers Zuster created the elegant handcrafted furniture housed in the rooms and public spaces.

And for an added wow, the hotel entrance welcomes guests with a seven-metre-tall Jackalope sculpture by Melbourne artist Emily Floyd - see above image.

Outside there is a super serene 30-metre infinity pool that offers views out to the vineyard and surrounding gardens - landscaped by Taylor Cullity Lethlean. See below image.

There are two restaurants – a fine dining room, Doot Doot Doot and a more casual restaurant and cellar door, Rare Hare; with interiors designed by Projects of Imagination. The Edwardian homestead 'McCormich House' situated on the property houses the hotel’s bar, Flaggerdoot.

For those unfamiliar with the name, a jackalope is a mythical rabbit-like creature with antlers.

"If luxury is defined by rarity, what is more luxurious than a creature so rare that it exists only in legend,”

The eyebrow-raising names are all in keeping with the central theme: a Flaggerdoot being the collective noun for a group of jackalopes, with the Doot Doot Doot being the leader of a Flaggerdoot.

Jackalope Hotel, Mornington Peninsula...