This day out combines three of our most popular springtime destinations. The day centers around one of the great drives through Hawke’s Bay, especially in Spring. State Highway 50 runs through the Maraekakaho, Tikokino and Ashley Clinton districts.
Our first destination is Smedley Station & Cadet Training Farm at the base of the Ruahine Ranges. Legendary for the quality of its graduates, Smedley is an agricultural training farm of nearly 14,000 acres that winters nearly 30,000 head of stock. Each year they select 13 new entrants into the 2-year cadet course. And such is the reputation of Smedley, that upon graduation participants are in very high demand in the industry. Station Manager, and Smedley graduate, Rob Evans and his wife Jen will host us. They’ll tell us about the latest happenings at the station and show us around. Then we return to SH50 and head to one of Hawke’s Bay’s most historically significant properties – Gwavas Homestead & Garden. Since the middle of the 19th century, five generations of the Carlyon family have lived and worked at Gwavas. Today Phyllida and Stuart will be our hosts and show us around the magnificent woodland garden that Gwavas is internationally renowned for before we join them for lunch in the grand Victorian homestead. After lunch we continue down SH50 to Taniwha Daffodils where the Mabin family have, for 25 years, planted their 20-acre home paddock with daffodils and raised funds for local charities. We can all pick a bunch of ‘daffs’ to take home.
This is always a wonderful day out full of typical CHB hospitality and a tangible connection at each destination to the region’s history. Come and join us in CHB for Spring