Five generations of love, life and work
has shaped our gem
sharing our place
We feel privileged to be living in this beautiful and peaceful part of the Waikato, our 40 hectare Waerenga farm, near Te Kauwhata. For generations our family has lived and worked here – each family contributing to what our place is today.
Mostly farming, each generation established their own area of expertise, from dairy and beef farming to where we are today, with an extensive plum orchard and horticulture operations. The ‘green finger’ kept running throughout the family, and has brought to us our beautiful and historical gardens – that we’d like to share with you.
In Our Gardens
The older part of the gardens
Our farm goes back 100 years, with previous generations having worked with passion in our gardens. The wider garden area is symbolic of old occupation on the site with sporadically positioned fruit trees. There are also remnants of shelter belts and other old shrubs and trees but collectively all these become the backbone and highlights of the stroll garden at Plum Meadows. Not to forget the original, recently renovated 1880’s barn.
The new gardens
The ‘new’ garden is comprised of several rooms as well as a kitchen garden and tree-lined walkways. Unique structural features throughout provide a twist to the traditional country garden with surprises around every corner.
The fruit orchard
Today the main purpose of our land is the 13 hectare stone fruit orchard. As well as twelve different varieties of plums, there is also heritage varieties of Blackboy peaches (peche de vigne), greengage plums and peacharines. While most fruits are sold, we make sure we keep plenty to turn in to our artisan traditional preserves.