Little Britain: A Tour of Wairarapa, New Zealand by Yvonne Van Dongen
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The fields of the Wairarapa are soft and luminously green fringed with frothy hawthorn, purple-candled polonia and the stalky remnants of dying daffodils. Calves rest in pools of sunshine while in the distance the hills gently dip and roll.
A church spire, visible further still, is a reminder that the Wairarapa has more churches per head of population that any other region in the country. Blimey, add hedgerows and this could be Britain.
The Most British
As someone who grew up in the city claiming to be the most English in New Zealand, I’d have to say the Wairarapa gives Christchurch and its surrounds a run for its shilling as the most English of countrysides in the antipodes.
The fact that a garden tour and a visit to Stonehenge Aotearoa is on the itinerary cements hasty first impressions.
The garden tour is the latest in Tranzit’s day escapes and takes in two hugely different landscapes. One features tidy topiary, a formal fountain and rows of pleached trees while the other says sod this for a game of soldiers and lets rip with natives, rocks and the odd weed.
They are both magnificent examples of passion and persistence although perhaps the Richmond formal garden in Carterton wins the prize in this respect. The design and plantings go back 15 years and it is now recognized as a garden of National Importance. Only two other gardens in the country have this title.
Green on Green on Green
The result of owner Melanie Greenwood’s foresight is pleasingly peaceful. This, she says, is due to the reduced colour palette. Green on green on green with the only differences being those of texture, shades and leaf shape.
Breaking the potentially soporific greenery are small explosions of candyfloss-coloured blossoms, ripening peonies and about-to burst-roses, looking all the more splendid for the surrounding restraint.
And lord, what a lawn. So soft and silky, it begs to be rolled on. We took notes on how Melanie achieves this but back in the van all agreed that sounded like way too much work and we would just have to come to terms with our own drab, weed-infested coarse ground-covering masquerading as lawn. In fact everything we’d ever done in the garden seemed like a pretence compared to such perfection.
My friend who has previously called herself a keen gardener glumly said she’d never call herself that again and mentally groped for a new description. Dabbler, dilettante, pretender? Wine taster perhaps. She found herself good at that at the tasting at Gladstone Vineyard which followed. There’s also plenty of scope for this occupation here what with 60 vineyards dotting the Wairarapa.
Simple but Stunning
I shall aim for professional luncher after my meal at the Gladstone Inn. Now the old local doesn’t look flash but what it lacks in décor it entirely makes up for in the quality of its food. Let’s face it, most lunch menus sound the same. Corn fritters, lamb’s fry, bacon and mash, skewered scallops and bacon blah blah blah. It’s the execution that counts and bless the Gladstone chef, he/she has executed the familiar with brilliance which, frankly, is how I like my food. Simple but stunning.
Assisi is only eight years old but it’s amazing what energy, a digger and mass plantings can achieve. The garden of Cec (pronounced Ces short for Cecile) and Andy Buchanan is an ever-expanding story on their 11.5ha property. Theirs is an exposed site with a grand view so taking in both factors the couple have liberally planted hardy grasses, flaxes and natives. They have also carved out a lake where frogs, ducks and swans now reside. In fact the entire garden has become a habitat for native fauna.
It is not perfect shrugs Cec. It is nothing like Richmond. Assisi has a much rougher character but it suits the site perfectly. It also has art works created by Cec and Andy who didn’t know he was an artist until he began to assemble metal and plastic balls into a satisfying whole.
Stonehenge Aotearoa
And then it was back to pretty colonial Greytown, fondly called ‘Tweetown’ by the locals, for a stroll and chance to buy ‘stuff.’ A black horse and carriage trotted down the verandah lined street. What could be more Olde Worlde English than that?
How about Prehistoric Anciente Worlde English stones in a circle known as Stonehenge Aotearoa? Similar but different from the original. That’s because when it comes to designing stone circles you have to adjust for latitude, longitude and star settings among other things.
Stonehenge Aotearoa is New Zealand’s only stone circle and is but three years old. The centre is the culmination of two years of hard slog every weekend by volunteer astronomers and enthusiasts who have incorporated astronomical knowledge from ancient cultures around the globe into the design. Already it has been used to celebrate events such as Matariki, equinoxes and solstices while this year the Druids came draped in white for the winter solstice.
The Cornerstone of our Civilization
The tour begins with an audio-visual reminding us that stone circles occur throughout the world. They were built to give humans knowledge of the heavens and as such they became the cornerstone of our civilization. The knowledge we gained from these constructions gave us the basis of navigation, time-keeping and formed the foundation of religion. Ancient stone circles hark back to the beginning of agriculture when people required a greater understanding of the relationship between earth and sky.
A deluge of information by the animated guide who walks us around the circle, obelisks, stones and tiled meridian line known as an annalema has us enthralled, if slightly overwhelmed.
It is disconcerting however to tap the stones and hear a hollow sound in response but I am assured this is the same material used to make the Channel Tunnel in Britain. The worn tiles of the annalema are being resurfaced and ultimately recast in bronze. There are also two observatories. A café is coming. Possibly some Celtic barrows over here.
Stonehenge Aotearoa is a clearly a work in progress, which is entirely in keeping. After all, the original was rebuilt several times over a thousand years.
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