The Garden

The property has an acre of landscaped gardens with several enormous historic trees and enjoys views over the 10th hole on the golf course. The garden is a "working" garden and part of the landscape practice, it is occasionally open to the public for charity and has also been the location for a number of TV and film productions.

The gardens are laid out in a 1930's period style with a home rules croquet lawn, petanque pitch, rose garden, potager vegetable garden, shrub and perennial borders and a wild watery garden on the lower level. Guests are invited to relax and enjoy the garden or take a morning coffee to the wide verandah or an evening drink to the terrace over looking the golf course.

As the property is located in the Conservation Zone birdlife is prolific and visitors can see fantails, tuis, native pigeons and other endangered species as well as exotic birds including a flock of wild rosella parakeets. Paradise ducks, pukekos and herons all nest in the area and frequent local streams.

Our local environment

Two minutes walk from the Studio you can enjoy the wide open spaces of the 100 acre Trentham Memorial Park or walk through historic Barton's Bush Reserve with its 600 year old trees.

Another five minutes walk takes you to the banks of the Hutt River, a real attraction to fly fishermen. Turn around and there are magnificent views of the successive ranges of hills culminating in the high Tararua mountains. An early morning or evening walk is something special, for birdsong, for the wonderful misty sunrises and glorious late evening moonrise over the mountains.