Canterbury House
CRAIGIEBURN VALLEY, CANTERBURY, SOUTH ISLAND, NEW ZEALAND
4 BR | 5 BA | SLEEPS 8
This vast homestead has been celebrated as the world’s most stylish and luxurious sheep station, and rightly so. The 36,000-acre, high-country estate strikes a rugged, utilitarian pose so well suited to the jutting limestone crags and dramatic mountains encircling it, that it seems an integral part of its moody, evocative landscape.
A Travel + Leisure Top 50 pick and a favorite of the FT’s How to Spend It, and The New York Times' T Travel, FLOCKHILL Homestead's sophistication and beauty have everything to do with its stark simplicity and privileged location in magnificently wild surroundings.
EXPERIENCE
Included in stay: private chef and attendant; daily breakfast (continental or cooked) with barista coffee; homemade snacks, soft drinks, juices, sparkling and chilled water, coffee and tea; daily lunch (picnic or relaxed); nightly canapes; nightly dinner (four-course, family-style or barbecue); use of mountain bikes and e-bikes.
Adventurous spirits will enjoy the incredible undisturbed wilderness. The scope of the land allows for cycling, hiking, kayaking and paddleboarding, along with fly fishing, bouldering, and caving. Helicopter-accessed food and wine tours offer gentler pursuits, and for big adventurers, the lodge can arrange for hunting, whale watching, truffle hunting, picnicking on mountain glaciers, jet-boating, golf, fly your own helicopter, and seasonal guided heli-skiing.
Humbly referred to as The Homestead, the linear lodge created by multi-award-winning architects Warren and Mahoney stands alone on a hillside of tufted native grasses at the center of a sheer valley shadowed by brooding peaks. The rock formations and majestic views extend the exclusive home, unspoiled for miles, encompassing Lake Pearson, Sugar Loaf peak and the neighbouring rugged slopes home to Flock Hill Station’s resident sheep.
Formidable architectural elements—cast concrete walls, limestone floors and black steel—define the home as a bold mountain lodge, yet the property’s sparse interiors offer a haven of warmth and refinement. This is a home created for guests to experience the remarkable remoteness, all the while enjoying gentler creature comforts. Rooms within the lodge offer a strong, protective embrace. Furnishings allow for the warm barefoot comfort you embrace in your home, and the wood-clad accent walls soften the space. A wine cellar reveals an intimate, rich wood interior, and the lodge’s timbered, pitched ceiling recalls the simple, local agricultural vernacular, a utilitarian design reference to the farm sheds dotting the unpopulated area.
Meals are a part of the experience, and the estate’s private chef tailors menus to guests, using local ingredients and seasonal preparations. Dining areas include the farmhouse kitchen, the dining room flanked by a wide steel hearth and roaring fire, and a sheltered barbecue area. There are multiple outdoor spaces to relax and lounge. From the terrace, there is the spa, pool, and fire pit.
EXPERIENCES
Included in stay: private chef and attendant; daily breakfast (continental or cooked) with barista coffee; homemade snacks, soft drinks, juices, sparkling and chilled water, coffee and tea; daily lunch (picnic or relaxed); nightly canapes; nightly dinner (four-course, family-style or barbecue); use of mountain bikes and e-bikes.
Adventurous spirits will enjoy the incredible undisturbed wilderness. The scope of the land allows for cycling, hiking, kayaking and paddleboarding, along with fly fishing, bouldering, and caving. Helicopter-accessed food and wine tours offer gentler pursuits, and for big adventurers, the lodge can arrange for hunting, whale watching, truffle hunting, picnicking on mountain glaciers, jet-boating, golf, fly your own helicopter, and seasonal guided heli-skiing.
Location
Southern Alps, Aotearoa, New Zealand. Nearest airport: Christchurch (1½ hours)
AROUND
Included in stay: private chef and attendant; daily breakfast (continental or cooked) with barista coffee; homemade snacks, soft drinks, juices, sparkling and chilled water, coffee and tea; daily lunch (picnic or relaxed); nightly canapes; nightly dinner (four-course, family-style or barbecue); use of mountain bikes and e-bikes.
Adventurous spirits will enjoy the incredible undisturbed wilderness. The scope of the land allows for cycling, hiking, kayaking and paddleboarding, along with fly fishing, bouldering, and caving. Helicopter-accessed food and wine tours offer gentler pursuits, and for big adventurers, the lodge can arrange for hunting, whale watching, truffle hunting, picnicking on mountain glaciers, jet-boating, golf, fly your own helicopter, and seasonal guided heli-skiing.