Gwavas Garden Homestead

In the Jan/Feb edition of NZ Life & Leisure magazine there is an article about open-to-view gardens pages 116-119.  Ten gardens have been selected across New Zealand for people to enjoy while topping up the health and wellbeing fuel tanks. Reading through the list, garden number 4 gave me an unexpected Cornish connection.

The historic Gwavas Garden Homestead was built in 1890 and is located in Tikokino, Central Hawkes Bay. The homestead was brought back to life by Phyllida and Stuart Gibson after being empty for 45 years and is surrounded by a nine-hectare woodland garden. The oldest trees were planted by Phyllida’s great-great-grandfather, Cornishman Major George Gwavas Carlyon, in the 1860’s.  His son A.S.G. Carlyon, initiated the planting of the garden proper 20 years later and modelled the ground on his family home, Tregrehan in Cornwall.  This is where the Carlyon family has lived since the mid-1500s, and it is today owned by Phyllida’s brother Tom Hudson.

More information on the Gwavas Garden & Homestead can be found on the following website - Link

Judy Wright - April 2022