Olveston gardens

Built for the wealthy Theomin family who lived here from 1906, Olveston has been loved by visitors since it was gifted to the City of Dunedin in 1966. The 1-acre gardens include an Edwardian-style glasshouse, a working kitchen garden, croquet lawn, and holly and camellia hedges. Keep an eye out for the large red, black and copper beech trees.

Look out for: the Theomin family 1922 Fiat 510 Touring motor car on display in the original garage.

Access: free, 9am-5pm daily

Larnach Castle gardens

William Larnach had this majestic 43-room mansion built on the back of the Otago gold rush in 1871. Family scandal and tragedy followed, and site fell into disrepair. In 1967 the Barker family bought and restored Larnach Castle and created a 7-acre garden of international significance. Explore a collection of unique gardens: the Patterned Garden, Lost Rock Garden, Serpentine Walk, Rain Forest, South Seas Garden, Alice Lawn and Green Room.

Look out for: a wishing well, vinery, methane gas generation plant and native plant trail.

Access: garden access included in entry price

Pūtaringamotu Riccarton House & Bush

Wander through Pūtaringamotu, a rare remnant of a centuries-old kahikatea swamp forest with deep connections to Ngāi Tūāhuriri. On his deathbed in 1854, John Deans asked his wife Jane to make sure that Riccarton Bush was preserved forever. In 1914 the Deans family presented Riccarton Bush to the people of Waitaha Canterbury. Mature trees planted by the Deans family shade the park-like gardens surrounding Riccarton House.

Look out for: kererū (wood pigeon), korimako (bellbird), pīwakawaka (fantail), and riroriro (grey warbler)

Access: free

Te Whare Waiutuutu Kate Sheppard House gardens

This gracious four-bedroom villa home was the hub of the bold and subversive fight for women’s suffrage in Aotearoa, Kate Sheppard, charmingly persuasive and politically astute, coordinated the movement from her family home. Explore this ‘sylvan retreat’, which includes mature trees and plantings, a kitchen garden, tennis court and the Waiutuutu stream boundary.

Look out for: A new laurel hedge has been planted behind the restored front fence. A journalist who interviewed Kate in her home after the 1893 Suffrage bill passed, described the ‘trimly shaven laurels and tall shrubberies’ edging her garden.

Access: garden access included in entry price

Pompallier Mission & Printery gardens

This Catholic mission was commissioned by Bishop Pompallier who firmly believed that the power of the printed word could be used to help convert Māori to Christianity. Most of the gardens today are based on the site’s era as a family home for the Greenways (1870s) and Stephensons (1900s). You’ll see mature trees, vegetable gardens, an orchards and high hedges.

Look out for: two gardening styles. A ‘promiscuous garden’ that encourages cross-pollination (Greenway era) and a more formal garden (Stevenson era).

Access: garden access included in entry price

Kororipo Heritage Park

Kororipo Heritage Park is where Māori and Europeans lived side by side and where some of the most important early meetings between our two cultures took place. Stroll along the tree-lined paths at Te Ahurea, and experience pre-European life at this interactive pā site. You’ll learn more about Māori native plants and traditional medicines in the Discoverers’ Gardens.

Then explore the heritage gardens and orchards outside Kemp House, Aotearoa New Zealand’s oldest standing building. Using seed and rootstock brought with them from England, the missionaries planted extensive cereal crops, hundreds of fruit trees, and even a ‘Pleasure Garden’, complete with flowers and a seat.

Look out for: Aotearoa New Zealand's oldest exotic tree, a Williams bon Chrétien (good Christian) pear tree. Now totally hollow, the tree is in its third century and still producing fruit.

Access: paid entry to Te Ahurea, Kemp House gardens free