A VICTORIAN FANTASY
Words: Kim Newth
Built in 1895 for Sir Heaton Rhodes and his wife Jessie, Otahuna Lodge is a grand Victorian homestead in rural Tai Tapu. A vast, many-roomed Queen Anne architectural icon on Christchurch’s south western fringe, this is colonial heritage on steroids. Heaton was a high profile pioneer of his day, a parliamentarian, horticulturalist, and Victorian country gentleman, who surrounded his gracious homestead with acres of lawn, lakes, woodland areas, and formal gardens. He supervised the planting of daffodil fields that have been a source of delight for generations.
More than a million daffodil bulbs will be coming into bloom this month at Otahuna, which is preparing to share the annual spring spectacular with guests and visitors alike. In celebration of the season, those staying at the lodge for two nights or more between mid-August and mid-September will be offered the ultimate lodge experience combining luxury accommodation with fine wining and dining – including pre-dinner drinks with canapes and a four-course dinner each evening – and a private, guided garden tour that will include the famed sea of daffodils.
“For years we’ve had so many guests, especially New Zealand guests, saying they’d like to come and stay longer, and so with the daffodils coming up this spring, we thought this would be a great offering for our Kiwi friends,” says Hall Cannon who co-owns Otahuna with Miles Refo. Both originally hail from New York but fell in love with New Zealand while holidaying here in 2004. They first saw Otahuna while on a road trip the following year and wound up buying the lodge in 2006. Their vision to run it as a modern interpretation of an historic country estate has since seen the lodge restored and rejuvenated to an impeccable standard.
“Each guest suite at Otahuna has a unique character and expresses different aspects of the lodge, from Heaton’s original master bedroom [the Rhodes Suite] to our new Loft Suite that we unveiled last year. We encourage people who are thinking about staying with us to look at our website so they can choose which one they want.”
Otahuna has eight private dining options, and the menu is ever-changing to reflect the fresh seasonal fare harvested from the property’s extensive potager garden that boasts 140 different kinds of fruit, vegetables, mushrooms, and nuts.
“We harvest on a daily basis, and this informs what is on the plates. What also makes dinner here so special is that a member of the chef team comes to the table and introduces each course and talks about where the food has come from and how it is prepared in the kitchen. It’s a unique food and wine experience.”
You don’t have to be staying at Otahuna to enjoy the delights of the season at this fabulous Victorian mansion. Dinner bookings from non-guests are accepted by prior reservation (within a 30-day period). Private guided garden tours may also be booked by prior reservation (minimum charge of $200).
Otahuna will throw the garden gates open for Daffodil Day on Sunday, 29 August, with three garden tours available that day (10am, 12.30pm, and 3pm), each lasting around 90 minutes and taking in the property’s 30 acres. Admission is $25 for adults and $10 for children aged 5–12, with all proceeds going to the Canterbury-West Coast Division of the New Zealand Cancer Society.