Twenty minutes south of Wairoa you turn off the highway onto Glendining Road which meanders along beside the Waihua River. When you run out of road you’ve arrived at Waihua Station. Rose Haynes is the fifth generation of the Glendining family to live and work on Waihua, a sheep and beef operation, and her daughters, Saba and Jess, are the sixth. The history of this property, over the more than 140 years the family has farmed here, features a series of resourceful women through the generations on whom responsibility for running the station has landed. Taking over the day-to-day running of the station from her parents Bob and Jill, Rose converted her beloved grandmother’s cottage on the property into holiday accommodation. Constant requests from guests to sample the farm’s meat prompted Rose to start selling the station meat under their own labels, ‘Hawke’s Bay Heifer’ and ‘The Black Sheep’. Grans’ old garage has been converted into a farm shop that opens every Sunday and also sells cakes, coffee and pizzas from their own Italian pizza oven and even homewares.
Join us in visiting Rose and her parents at Waihua Station for lunch and to hear all about the station and its history.