WineNZ Summer 18-19 (1)
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feature | wine people’s places<br />
The parterre behind the house is filling out.<br />
olive grove. Behind them are an orchard<br />
and a truffiere, then the terrace slopes down<br />
to the Lake Dunstan reserve, making for<br />
easy access for Mathilde and Madeleine<br />
to swim and boat.<br />
Joan, an archaeologist, has found a lot of<br />
relics on the site, from spoons and knives<br />
to ploughs and other farm tools.<br />
“The first owner of this property was a<br />
Chinese gold miner so we have found lots<br />
of bits of Chinese pickle pots and things,<br />
evidence of Ah Que. And I’m quite excited<br />
about the fact he was here because he started<br />
a market garden in <strong>18</strong>80 so it’s had a long<br />
process of people growing things here.”<br />
After Ah Que’s death in <strong>19</strong>04, the<br />
Stephens family farmed in the area, so<br />
the Lawrences are only the third owners<br />
after they broke up the big sheep farms,<br />
she said.<br />
The Lawrences grow most of their own<br />
vegetables in the potager behind Lucie and<br />
Brook’s house, and they keep chickens.<br />
Against the sunny house wall is an 11-year<br />
old espaliered fig that ripens several weeks<br />
before the freestanding tree, Lucie says.<br />
One of the garden features at the Lawrences’ home.<br />
But the grounds are not all about selfsufficiency.<br />
Joan says she always wanted a<br />
parterre and decided that if she didn’t plant<br />
one now she would never have one, so the<br />
neat pattern of box hedges interspersed with<br />
white gravel is filling out on the southwest<br />
side of the house.<br />
Behind the tasting room is an enormous<br />
old walnut tree and Joan has planted old<br />
fashioned roses and perennials as well as<br />
spring bulbs round the restored cottage.<br />
“It’s a good life,” she says.<br />
The first owner of<br />
this property was a<br />
Chinese gold miner<br />
so we have found lots of bits<br />
of Chinese pickle pots and<br />
things, evidence of Ah Que.”<br />
62 <strong>WineNZ</strong> Magazine | <strong>Summer</strong> 20<strong>18</strong>-<strong>19</strong>