In the latest in his occasional series celebrating our beautiful territory, Canberra author NOEL BEDDOE is tempted across the border… by chocolate.

Let’s say you have an international visitor and she’s asked for contact with the Australian bush. Please throw in, she’s said, gourmet food and drink and a bit of glamour. Easy – this is Canberra!

You’ve driven along the Barton Highway heading southwest across the border into the region that defines itself as the Canberra District, heading towards Murrumbateman. 

You pass the sign that lets you know that Nanima Road is just ahead; carefully you’ve negotiated the turn and you’ve taken your guest out between fences and paddocks and livestock heading for Murrumbateman Road, Four Winds Winery, wood-fired pizzas and a bottle of their amazing sparkling riesling.

There’s been good rain so the landscape is verdant; not nearly such a pleasant trip in a drought. There’s expensive fencing of horse studs, herds of fat Black Angus, a laneway between stands of trees and a sign that advertises a reception house by a lake; a big mob of grey kangaroos startles up as you drive past and bounds off towards the south. 

Abrupt, unexpected round-domed hills rise up sharply out of flat pasture, so tall and steep that you wonder if any livestock could stand upon them to feed.

Then, seven or so kilometres off the highway, you come to exactly what you would expect to find in the middle of outback Australia – a chocolate factory.

The delightful structure beside a lake is The Murrumbateman Chocolate Company, home of the boutique Sweet Pea and Poppy confectionary lines. 

You can get morning or afternoon tea, possibly the best hot chocolate in the world, and in a chocolate-tasting experience (book ahead) little discs of examples of the type of chocolate used in manufacture with tasting notes to explain their qualities and uses.

And you can have any or all of these at tables outdoors and enjoy the waterfowl on the property’s lake, the countryside vista, the beautiful country air. Then, your guest wanted glamour?

You take her into the establishment’s delightful display room and introduce her to Mrs Yasmin Coe.

Yasmin is the proprietor and driving force behind The Murrumbateman Chocolate Company; she engages with her visitors; she is articulate, charming and remarkably charismatic; her aura is a mixture of vulnerability and determined optimism. 

She is passionate about the future of the Murrumbateman area, and about the creation of outstanding artisan chocolates. Yasmin is a native daughter of Canberra, a graduate of Canberra University with a degree in the area of finance; she spent some years as a management consultant for business giant KPMG. How does she, after such a background, find herself the owner/manager of a rural chocolate factory?

Yasmin: “I always had a fascination with cooking and making chocolates; as a child I preferred cooking books to story books. I would experiment and make chocolates for the family. When I was a teenager I would create chocolates and box them; my dad had his own business and he would use my chocolates as gifts to clients.

“My mum and dad both encouraged my love of chocolate making. Initially, I was self-taught and then I took the opportunity to study through short courses at various institutions.

“I started my original chocolate business, Sweet Pea and Poppy, while on maternity leave with my youngest child. I had great support from my family – my mum Karen came up with the name Sweet Pea and Poppy.

“The business grew from my home-based commercial kitchen. It reached capacity producing chocolates for our customer base across Australia. The opportunity came to move our family and business to Murrumbateman, which gave us a rural lifestyle for our children and provided space for the business to grow.” 

What’s the scope of the business?

“We sell directly from the shop here. We wholesale into gourmet grocers and flower shops around Australia. We do an online chocolate and gift hamper trade. 

“And in the Murrumbateman area the producers support the endeavours of each other. Four Winds, as an example, have a shiraz dinner soon and we’re providing a shiraz-themed dessert; it’s a good time to visit.”

The business has completed a major extension to provide warehousing and an improved office capability.

A visit to The Murrumbateman Chocolate Company is a delightful break in a trip through some glorious countryside. If you take your overseas visitors, though, you’d best be prepared that they’re going to leave carrying a selection of beautifully-boxed confectionery.

Where little sailors are a sight to lift the spirits