Country Life

Country Life for 5 May 2017.

The Hawkes Bay community of Wimbledon has a permanent population of just 10, but at least 150 gather each year for its ANZAC Day service, followed by a free lunch at the tavern.

Grapes came off early at the Te Whare Ra organic vineyard in Marlborough this year so were saved from damage that would have been delivered by Cyclone Debbie. Cosmo Kentish-Barnes catches up with Te Whare Ra winemaker Anna Flowerday.

Lovely calm and sunny days, with cool nights, let North Island farmers and croppers get onto the land for cultivation or repair work, and the kiwifruit harvest had an uninterrupted week for a change. In Mid-Canterbury arable farmers are busy planting winter wheat and barley along with some late planted ryegrass for seed.

Gilda Otway grows hazelnuts in the Puaha Valley on Banks Peninsula using permaculture and organic principles.

Hazelnut harvesting, Regional wrap, Te Whare Ra and Wimbledon remembers.

The Coronation Garden in Little River is a living memorial for local men who died in WWI and WWII. Designed by local nurseryman Bruce King, the garden is packed with perennials, rhododendrons, flaxes and bulbs he's grown and planted himself.

Rukuhia Homestead is just south of Hamilton. It's been owned by the Glenn family since 1925 and when Val Glenn moved into what had been her grandparents house, she found a box of letters written during World War Two. She has two of the letters on display in the homestead hallway. They were written by young men who remembered the Waikato property fondly. They never came home. They died aged 24 and 26 years.

The North Island is drying out after the Easter rain, and cool temperatures are helping kiwifruit mature. The rams out in force on hill country farms in Marlborough and there's tons of feed around, while farmers in the lower country are gearing up to get the Ewes scanned.

The Little River Support Group hosts the Giant Pumpkin Festival every year on Anzac weekend. The old style country fair attracts hundreds of visitors and competitors from around Canterbury and all proceeds go to the Little River School.