TOUR FEVER

House Tour season is just around the corner with five great locations

Tickets are selling fast for next year’s NZ House & Garden House Tours, with a high calibre line-up of houses in five destinations. Homeowners are excited to host tourgoers and take the event to new heights of success for the benefit of Breast Cancer Foundation NZ. The House Tours have been running for 11 years in conjunction with the foundation, and have gained in popularity and standing every year. It is New Zealand’s largest and most-established house charity tour event.

Last year, the Oamaru tour sold out in 48 hours, so for the first time in the event’s history a second day was added to fulfil demand. Other centres sold out within weeks, so this year two of the destinations will also run over two days – a Friday and a Saturday.

You asked us to spread the love and bring the tours to the regions; we listened. This year the NZ House & Garden House Tours have taken a break from Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch and will be running in the Bay of Islands, Taupō, New Plymouth, Blenheim and Dunedin.

Says House Tours events manager Nadia Isaacs: “For some years now, our tourgoers have been asking for an event in Dunedin. We’ve found some exciting properties in the southern city, from modern gems to a converted church.”

The NZ House & Garden team has searched each region to uncover a range of inspirational properties. Carefully selected, they include grand country estates, architecturally designed homes, awe-inspiring lakefront properties and retreats that revel in their seaside location.

Says NZ House & Garden editor Naomi Larkin: “This is my first House Tour season. It’s wonderful to see how highly anticipated they are and I’m humbled at the generosity of the homeowners in opening up their houses. I’m really excited to be leading the House Tours for 2020; they look set to be the best ones yet.”

THIS PAGE (A taste of some of the houses from various regions, clockwise from top left) This sassy New Plymouth villa appeared on the cover of our August 2019 issue; now’s your chance to see it in person. A romantic seaside home has been given a beachy Cape Cod vibe by its talented owner; see it on the Bay of Islands tour. Creating a family home from a church has its challenges – just wait to see how this Dunedin example turned out. A designer’s own haven, this tree-encircled Taupō home will have tourgoers inspired. OPPOSITE Wine-lovers will be inspired by this striking architectural Blenheim home, set amongst the grapevines.