I and several others are partial to a drive in the country and a pub lunch. Last Sunday spring was in the air. (That didn’t last. It’s 7C, the wind even sounds cold, and I’m told the snow is low on the surrounding hills – I’m not going […]
Four o’clock last Saturday afternoon, the temperature was thirty plus, and on the platform at Napier Station we and everyone else sizzled from the heat and the anticipation. This was no ordinary train service. There isn’t one any more for passengers on the Napier line. We were there […]
Some might think that Otane, in Central Hawkes Bay, is about as off the beaten track as it’s possible to get. Wikipedia seems to think so. But Otane does have a school, a café, a town hall, a country pub and, on Sundays, a market. Once a year, on Waitangi Day, […]
Eschewing Ormondville toasted sandwiches was one thing, coming up with an alternative was another. We were hungry! We fancied somewhere untried, somewhere with food, lots of it, and not too far away. Our stomachs rumbled as we drove south. If there’s a debate to be had whether Mangatera ( the hotel is […]
After a long hiatus through the winter months, spring, and a birthday in need of a celebration, saw us out and about once again. This time to the Ormondville Pub, more correctly known as The Settlers Arms. We’d never been before and it well and truly met our core […]
Central Hawkes Bay is beautiful at any time of the year. On our most recent visit – for lunch at the Duke of Edinburgh in Porangahau – the poplars were still yellow, the maples were turning and, after the first rain in months, there was a hint of […]
Just when our readers may have given up on us we were out and about again at Easter. This time we chose somewhere a little closer to home for some of our group: The Puketapu. Once this hotel may well have been described as off the beaten track. […]
We’ve visited the Norsewood cafe several times over the years but this time in keeping with our aim to visit Hawkes Bay Country Pubs we lunched at The Crown Hotel. It was immediately apparent that this is the haunt of the true local: the sort who go along […]
Jill's Scene 
The korero