Canterbury Tales Part One...

Last week we enjoyed a stunning mini-break catching up with friends down in Canterbury. We had a great time, with plenty of great wine and food. After exploring the international Antarctic centre on Thursday, we mooched around a few antique shops enjoyed a couple of pints at the few pubs which are still standing in  Christchurch, and then went home for a dinner of slowly cooked beef chaps with seasonal vegetables and red wine. The next day after a much needed sleep-in we set off on a mystery tour our hosts had arranged.

After some guerilla gardening we were set to go...

We were taken on a lovely scenic tour of southern Canterbury, stopping in historic Oamaru for lunch at a Victorian tea room and visiting the heritage district where all the buildings are of historic importance. Then our journey continued, ending at twilight when we arrived at the small historic vicarage of St Alban's outside Kurow...

It was built in the late 1800s out of hand hewn Oamaru limestone and is situated near the foot hills of the Southern Alps.

"Between 1881 and 1891 the Anglican community in and around Kurow was served by curates who resided locally but who were appointed to the vicar of Oamaru. In 1891 this situation changed, however, when the Waitaki Mission District was established and Hugh Corrie Frere was appointed as the first curate of the new parish. At the same time Emily Campbell, wife of the late Robert Campbell who was one of North Otago's leading landowners, left a large bequest of approximately £5300 to finance the erection of a church and vicarage in the district.

Emily Campbell's generosity proved to be somewhat of a mixed blessing, however, as the Anglicans of Duntroon initially disputed Kurow's suitability as the parish's centre. The New Zealand Church News of August 1892 records that Mrs Campbell's legacy was causing divisions within the district's Anglicans although "Kurow (was) really the proper centre of operations, and ought probably to have both the church and parsonage". [NZ Church News, Vol XXII, No. 8, p7]. Happily the controversy was eventually resolved by Bishop Nevill of Dunedin who recommended that a church be erected at Duntroon whilst a vicarage and adjoining chapel were built at Kurow. £2,500 was subsequently allocated for the construction of the latter, which began forthwith, although St Martin's Church at Duntroon was not erected until 1901 to a design by Christchurch architect, Thomas Cane.

The large size of the Kurow vicarage may in part be explained by the fact that the first incumbent at St Alban's had a large family and a private income with which to pay domestic and stable staff. The last resident vicar at Kurow vacated the house in 1970." 

- From The New Zealand Historic Places Trust

The vicarage has now been turned into bijoux accommodation, which our hosts had hired for the weekend.

Later the reason for the impromptu holly pruning was revealed, the holly being needed to trim the table for a mid-winter Christmas dinner...

The next day we continued our tour around the lakes of South Canterbury ...

...before returning home by night fall for another lavish spread.

The next day we went to look at a large plot of land they had purchased outside Christchurch, complete with a stream filled with brown trout and wild watercress..

Part 2 Tomorrow...