Canterbury Springtime Gardens & Culverden Fete
7 Nights/8 Days: Christchurch – Hanmer Springs – Culverden Christmas Country Fete – Jo Seagar’s Café, Oxford – Christchurch – Mt Somers – Spring Gardens – Akaroa – Christchurch
Canterbury Springtime Gardens & Culverden Fete
Private farmhouse lunches with country hospitality and beautiful gardens at their spring best. Numerous highlights include the Culverden Fete, Jo Seagar’s café and Nancy Tichborne’s artist studio on Banks Peninsula.experiences included in your tour price
- All transport by comfortable, air conditioned coach (maximum of 16 travellers).
- Services of your experienced MoaTrek driver/guide.
- Quality, en suite accommodation.
- All breakfasts, lunches and dinners.
- All sightseeing and exploring in the regions.
- Attend the Culverden Christmas Country Fete.
- Visit “Art in a Garden” at Flaxmere.
- Lunch at Jo Seagar’s café in Oxford.
- Exclusive private country farmhouse lunches and morning and afternoon teas
- In Akaroa visit Josie Martin’s Linton, The Giant House, Okains Bay Museum and Bryan & Nancy Tichborne’s artist studio and garden.
Tour dates
- October 24 - October 31, 2012
Tour Price
$NZD3790 per person twin or double share accommodation$NZD4390 per person single room accommodation
Our travellers say...
A very well organised tour with a very competent & likeable driver/guide. Good company & lots of laughs! Thanks for a wonderful week.
Pam Beeche - New Zealand, Canterbury Springtime Gardens & Culverden Fete October 2010
Tour dates
- October 24 - October 31, 2012
Day 1: Christchurch - Hanmer Springs (L, D)
Departing Christchurch we drive north to the pretty alpine village of Hanmer Springs, stopping for lunch en route at Mt Arden sheep station. We then visit Art in a Garden sculpture exhibition before driving to Hanmer Springs.
Day 2: Hanmer - Christmas Country Fete, Culverden - Hanmer (B, L, D)
Relax and enjoy this famous one day event – the Culverden Christmas Country Fete. We have time to browse 200 stalls, including fine arts and crafts, local wine and food. In the mid afternoon we return to Hanmer with time to refresh and perhaps enjoy a dip in the hot pools before dinner.
Day 3: Hanmer - Jo Segar's Café - Christchurch (B, L, D)
Travelling south to Oxford in time to lunch at Jo Seagar’s Café and visit her kitchen. Then we drive into Christchurch and your hotel in the centre of town. This afternoon we visit a beautiful local garden and shop and sightsee around Christchurch. Dine in your hotel this evening.
Day 4: Christchurch - Ashburton - Mt Somers (B, L, D)
In Ashburton we visit Trott’s garden and nursery, a garden of national significance and Judy Grant’s garden. At Akaunui, we join our hosts Ian and Di Mackenzie for lunch in their charming 100 year old farm homestead set in magnificent gardens arriving in Mt Somers in the late afternoon. This evening Sean and Madeline Brown host us at Stronechrubie - Sean is an outstanding chef.
Day 5: Mt Somers - Mid Canterbury Gardens (B, L, D)
Driving into the countryside to visit farm gardens, with morning tea with Adrienne and Neil Doyle at beautiful Eden Terrace. We lunch with Frances and Don Stanton in their sweet 1878 schoolhouse. Then wander Sara Grigg's garden at Surrey Hills Station.
Day 6: Mt Somers - Little River - Akaroa (B, L, D)
We drive over to Little River and enjoy the views from the top of Banks Peninsula. In Akaroa your apartments are along the harbour's edge. There's free time this afternoon to explore Akaroa's streets of historic houses, some tracing their origin back to early the early French settlers.
Day 7: Akaroa – Banks Peninsula touring (B, L, D)
We visit Okain's Bay Maori and Colonial Museum on the other side of the peninsula, a treasure trove of over 20,000 Maori and European artifacts. We lunch at Virginia Mayo's farmhouse and visit Josie Martin's historic Linton, The Giants House, the garden is alive with amazing sculptural mosaics.
Day 8: Akaroa – Christchurch (B, L)
This morning we visit the stunning garden and studio of artist Nancy and Bryan Tichborne then Barry's Bay Traditional Cheese shop. We lunch at the Little River Cafe before heading back over the hill to Christchurch.
Stronechrubie Chalets
Stronechrubie offers chalet accommodation and fine dining in the beauty of the high country. The chalets are set in trees around the lodge restaurant where host Sean Brown, an award-winning chef, presents classic, locally sourced, cuisine.
Heritage Hanmer Springs
The gracious four star Hanmer Springs Hotel is a restored turn of the 20th century lodge set among mature trees with the Southern Alps as a backdrop.
Bruce Apartments
Spacious apartments on the Akaroa waterfront just 50 metres from the wharf and within easy walking distance of restaurants and village streets.
Hotel Ashburton
Located in mid-Canterbury on the out-skirts of Ashburton, set in a quiet countryside location with beautifully kept gardens.
Booking enquiries
To make an enquiry or booking with MoaTrek fill in the form below and use the submit button - this will generate an email to MoaTrek New Zealand Ltd. We'll answer your query promptly.
Contact details
Booking conditions
- A payment of 10% of your tour cost to your travel agent or MoaTrek New Zealand Ltd (MoaTrek) confirms your booking and acknowledges your agreement to our terms and conditions.
- The balance of your fare is due 40 days before your tour departs.
- Tour reservations can of course, be made within 40 days provided full payment is made at time of booking.
- All prices are in $NZ and include New Zealand Goods & Services tax (GST) of 12.5%.
Cancellations and amendments
Cancellation fees depend on when we receive written notification of a cancellation.
- Bookings cancelled more than 40 days before departure incur loss of deposit.
- Between 40 days & 14 days 25% of tour cost.
- Within 14 days of departure 50% of tour cost.
- Bookings cancelled within seven days of the departure date are subject to 100% of tour cost.
- No refunds will be made after travel has commenced.
Booking Conditions, the fine print.
Visitors from around the world have been welcomed for many years, and as this is a perfect natural garden gallery Penny Zino has opened her garden for an annual presentation of artworks by some of New Zealand's finest sculptors and painters.
The Fete offers interesting and affordable gifts with 200 stalls set up over two hectares of park like country grounds. You can do all your Christmas shopping in one swoop, and leave at the end of the day with gifts you won't have seen anywhere else, but at the Fête.
Lunch at Jo Seagar’s Oxford café where local produce and wine are showcased within a casual, café atmosphere. There are no pretenses here. Jo’s Kitchen Shop is also well worth a browse.
Ian Mackenzie’s grandfather came to Akaunui just after World War 11. Ian and Di Mackenzie now farm 1200 acres, mostly arable farming with 2000 ewes and about 100 head of cattle. The homestead sits in park-like grounds looked after by Di, a passionate gardener. The house is just over 100 years old, built from bricks made at the local kiln and finished with rimu native timber
Meet Chef Sean Brown in his kitchen as he prepares your evening meal. Sean, an award-winning Chef de Cuisine, has extensive experience in the industry with a menu that presents diners with a classic New Zealand cuisine, featuring locally sourced ingredients including lamb, beef, salmon and venison. All dishes are prepared in the kitchen, including desserts, ensuring freshness and the highest class of presentation.
Akaroa, which in Maori means 'Long harbour', was the regions first substantial European settlement and safe haven for early whalers and sealers working in the wild southern ocean beyond it's striking headlands. 
At artist Jose Martin’s historic Linton, The Giant’s House in Akaroa the terraced garden is alive with amazing sculptures and mosaics. It’s acolourful and a creative feast and a wonderful, unexpected experience. 
The Garden - French Farm
The Avon River, Christchurch 
Lunch at Mount Somers School House 
Stay near Akaroa Harbour 
Visit The Giants House, Akaroa 
Bryan & Nancy Tichborne's French Farm