What are the opening hours?

Monday 9am - 5pm Tuesday 9am - 5pm Wednesday 9am - 5pm Thursday 9am - 5pm Friday 9am - 5pm Saturday 9am - 5pm Sunday 9am - 5pm

Welton House

Name: Welton House
Address: 10 Staces Road, Grovetown, 7202, NZ
Telephone: 021 323 358
Rating: 5

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Welton House

A 150 year old New Zealand Garden of National Significance, 5 minutes from Blenheim open for visits

12/01/2025

Todays early morning snaps of the multiple, long awaited Lilium auratum flowers and a very normal first flower on a weird hybrid San Pedro Cactus. You watch them fattening and fattening further until finally one morning they just are there! Such excitement.

Ross and I have been practising on auratums for 3, maybe even nearly 4, decades and here, at long last, on a manky piece of sand and rubble they have found their happy place which of course is now my very happy place. It doesn’t completely fulfil the fantasy of seeing them growing in the wild but for the time being it will do.

31/12/2024

Good morning 2025! I am very pleased to meet you and all you promise.

Wishing everyone a year filled with joy, adventure and many gardens.

13/12/2024

Late spring florabunda captured by Simon Rickard a fortnight ago has passed and the tawniness of summer has begun to seep in as our hot days have arrived early.

The green tranquillity of the woodland/ngahere has become a favourite place to pause as the temperature begins to nudge the thirties.

The birds quieten in the hot afternoons keeping their fledglings afoot and safe until the cool of evening allows them to spread their baby wings.

Soon I will see our first young Tuis en famille learning under the guidance of their father where the best of our bespoke Tui larder is found. The red and purple kahikatea berries outside my bedroom window are often first choice and I can quietly observe this brief moment of magic.

Holiday makers have begun to be occupy on a permanent basis bringing a change of mood to the farm as they relax into family time. Squeals of fun can be heard in the distance as they splash in the pool and play cricket, football or croquet on the long lawn; maximising the long days.

Out in the industrial garden, our vineyard, the infant grape bunches are copious and wondrously large promising a bumper and hopefully early harvest.

Summer! My god I love it.

07/12/2024

Deliciously floriferous on the front veranda captured beautifully by Simon Rickard a week or so ago when he guided a charming Botanica group through Welton. Simon is the definition of the modern renaissance man - not only does he have a botanical brain to rival , he is an exceptional musician, has an amazing garden himself, is clearly treasured as a guide and generously gifts his photographic talents! I’m sure there’s more amazing talents that I yet to discover. He’s just that sort of person. Oh and I forgot he’s fantastic company! Thank you Simon. Please come back whenever you want. There’s always a bed for you my friend.

05/12/2024

Our journey at Welton House began with keys finally in hand my lovely father, Pat Palmer, turned up with his most favourite of seats. I was astonished - what on earth was he doing? This art nouveau cast iron bench had long sat on Pat’s verandah and was an essential part of his daily lunchtime sun worship. I told him to get it back home toute suite!

Quietly he told me he was returning it to its rightful home as it had come from Welton and was gifted to him many years prior. It belonged here and it was important to him that it continued to do so. In a 1910 photo it sat on Welton’s first bull nosed verandah now long gone.

It is placed in this wee garden in remembrance of Dad where, with train track in sight, he can forever count the train wagons. This habit was acquired at his father’s feet - a simple glimpse of the wellbeing of the economy. And in Pat’s charming, determined and persuasive way he taught his children and grandchildren to do so too.

Pat is buried in the hills beyond in a gravesite visible on clear days. Mum, Patsy Palmer, lies by his side.

This is one way our family celebrates whakapapa. The literal translation is to place in layers, to create a foundation but like many te reo words it has itself many layers. It is generally referring to genealogy but is much more than that to us.

As part of our kaitiakitanga (guardianship) we celebrate all the stories of our place. It is an essential part of our story too; human and flora. It is a continuous reminder of our privilege and responsibility. It enables gratitude.

Through sharing the garden my father, James Maclean Palmer, is forever with me. Bravo Dad.

29/11/2024

A for Amazing! Team. Photo by Simon Rickard as he lead a lovely group from Botanica through Welton. Thanks Botanica and Simon. You make it all worthwhile.

10/11/2024

The most intense and fabulous week of the year has come to an end. Hundreds of engaging garden geeks have wandered through our gates and charmed us with their passion and knowledge of plants and gardening. Of course it takes a village but in our case an A for Amazing Team of very hardworking helpers. In the group photo from left to right Issy Matt Jen (who thought she was leaving her 6 star garden to have a relaxing time at Garden Marlborough - how silly we both were!) and Jessie. Missing in action in the photo is but present in most of these beautiful shots he gave us. A ginormous thanks A Team! My super thanks goes to my bro - plant genius extraordinaire with 1000 Wikipedia’s of knowledge in that head; People constantly ask how it works between us. To be honest I have no exact answer. Somehow we have a deep, identical connection to plants, place and philosophy. My best guess is it’s a random genetic similarity that has enabled us to collaborate on 5 gardens with 3 of those still in creation on this farm. We have a lot more in our brains not yet realised! And not to be forgotten are the Alzheimers team lead by Pauline who charmingly fed and watered our guests. Lastly to our D for Doglettes, Dustin and Dot who faithfully welcomed and farewelled our guests on board the bus whether the obliging bus drivers liked it or not! And thank you to the board and management team plus your phenomenal volunteer’s who made this week a triumph.

08/11/2024

Kahikatea cathedral finally taking form in our twenty year ngahere. Photo credit: Clayton Morgan

07/10/2024

There’s always those moments in the depths of winter when orchid anxiety becomes a daily thing. Each orchid (and for any of you who have been nice enough to visit will know this is quite a time consuming activity) is closely examined daily for the smallest evidence of a good flowering to come. With vertical gardening now a major thing here it also requires twisting the aged neck into impossible angles whilst on tippy toes. But the only one where the anxiety is truly fierce is with this family heirloom of nearly six decades. Will it be good global 360 degrees of decent spikes? It is absolutely beyond repotting and achieving this look has meant a very deep dive into rabbit holes too long to describe here but I’m happy to share if you DM me. I think its groupies will be satisfied with Cymbidium lowianum this year? What do you think?

11/09/2024

Home.

15/04/2024

Conference 2024 in Marlborough is over. We had drama with the heavens opening for the first time in nearly 400 days, buses slid on slippery hilly clay, gumboots and umbrellas were our attire. But intrepid as our whanau is nothing deterred us from our mission to see more, learn more and have fun. I’m feeling very privileged that in latter life the gift of the Trust has been given to me. The aroha, the whanau, the fascinating stream of garden and plant obsessed visitors from our global whanau. 🙏 There are too many words for fb. ❤️ .

07/04/2024

The dawn of NZ Gardens Trust Conference week. It has been challenging for the 9 gardeners prepping for 120 visitors with no significant rain for 13 months; our driest period on record. But they will look splendid in the deluge expected during the first two days! What are the odds huh? Nearly 400 days with hardly a drop and we just hoped for 4 more. However our Conference goers are a hardy and determined bunch. We’ve never let a downpour get in the way of a new garden to explore.

08/03/2024

This little beauty is part of our Tui larder and has given me great joy as our new Tui family has been feasting on them in the grove of Kaihikateas planted outside my bedroom window. It is very pleasant watching Tui TV on a quiet Saturday morning but I’m dragging myself away to continue prepping for the NZ Gardens Conference merely 4 weeks away. Check out the program on the NZ Gardens Trust website .

18/01/2024

Unexpected delight as you turn the corner and find 4.5 metres of Dasylirion flower spike with its flowers arranged as a perplexing pasta salad. Quite a moment when spied for the first time.

13/01/2024

A very tawny paddock. We have had very little rain for months now and some very hot days for us - late twenties to early 30’s. The council has imposed hosepipe bans in some places and the Wither Hills Farm Park is closed due to high fire risk. It’s phenomenal how green the grapes are especially those on the right with no irrigation.

Address

10 Staces Road
Grovetown
7202

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Friday	9am - 5pm
Saturday	9am - 5pm
Sunday	9am - 5pm

Telephone

021 323 358

Website

http://www.weltonhouse.co.nz/

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@new_zealand_gardens_trust Conference 2024 in Marlborough is over. We had drama with the heavens opening for the first time in nearly 400 days, buses slid on slippery hilly clay, gumboots and umbrellas were our attire. But intrepid as our whanau is nothing deterred us from our mission to see more, learn more and have fun. I’m feeling very privileged that in latter life the gift of the Trust has been given to me. The aroha, the whanau, the fascinating stream of garden and plant obsessed visitors from our global whanau. 🙏 There are too many words for fb. ❤️ #nzgardenstrust #lovenzgardenstrust.

Our wee forest of Lilium superbum - from one bulb planted at least a decade ago is finally owning the space. Only one bulb is not often ordered for this garden. I guess that’s how rare it was back then. Well worth the wait! #liliumsuperbum

My early morning chorus……. #dawnchorus #topiary #topiarylover #corokiacotoneaster #horopito #nzgardenstrust #newzealandgardenstrust #nzgt #weltonhousegarden #weltonhouse #welton #gardenstovisit #privategardensofaotearoa #privategardensnz #lovemarlborough