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We all get busy with life, work, kids, parents, helping others and many more things. One of the best things can be a night or two away with good friends. Sometimes this can give us a chance to unwind and dream up new ideas and projects. I’m lucky enough to have two of my lovely friends Phillippa and Cilla, who are also in business, we love sharing ideas with each other, on business, it’s a great support network. This weekend I headed away with these girls, their husbands and my husband Mike. I thought I would share our lovely Marlborough experience with you all.
Ten years or so ago I joined “Her Business Network” in Christchurch. It was a great way to meet a lot of like-minded ladies in business and from this, some great friendships have been formed. We have had some memorable moments together. Like when we were all together at my salon in Merivale when the earthquake hit on 22nd February 2011, we were literally diving under tables to be safe as the city erupted around us. This bought us even closer as we helped support each other through the disasters and triumphs to follow.Fast forward to November 2018 and I was lucky enough to win best-dressed lady at a “Her Business” Melbourne Cup lunch at Fiddlesticks Restaurant. Initially, I wasn’t going to go as we were too busy at work. But in the end, I made it with the 10-year-old hat that I redecorated with flowers from my vase in our hallway the night before…oh and I think my Trelise Cooper dress may have helped a lot.On Friday 29th March we headed for Marlborough, to use the prize I had won which was a weekend for six at “The Jules Taylor Bach”. It was my first time up the East Coast of the South Island since the Kaikoura earthquakes. What a remarkable job has been done to repair the highway, there is still a lot of works happening, but everything is taking great shape.
We arrived at the “bach” to find that it was not a bach but a lovely house that we had for the weekend set amongst the vines and with a swimming pool as well!
Friday night we had some beautiful platters and a wine or three, solved the problems of the world and had a lot of laughs. It was harvesting time at the vineyard, so it was very interesting seeing the process of the huge harvester machines immaculately picking all the grapes with great precision.Saturday was a beautiful morning and we had breakfast and relaxed before our bus picked us up for our “Wine Tour”.First stop was Allan Scott Winery for tastings and a delicious lunch. If you ever get the chance to go there, I highly recommend it. The food was fabulous and the staff super friendly. Oh, and the wines weren’t bad either.
Next stop Wither Hills set in a lovely big modern quirky architectural building. They had amazing views out over the vineyard and a very cool wine cellar and viewing tower.
Then it was off to Framingham, this winery also had beautiful wines, they also have a very interesting wine cellar. Framingham was instrumental in starting screw top wine bottles in New Zealand in 2000. This was due to the wineries being constantly annoyed that approx. one in twelve wine bottles would be “corked” causing wastage and lost profits.
Time for Bubbles, you can’t go on a winery tour without having some “bubbles”, we stopped in at No 1 Family Estate that is owned by the renowned Daniel Le Brun. This is a stunning boutique winery, lovely wines and beautiful décor.
Last stop of the day was at Saint Clair Family Estate, the wine tasting here came with a fabulous young English man as our host. Whom managed to sell us their best wine that he recommends goes perfectly with “Fish and Chips”.
The day was finished with a stunning degustation meal at Arbour restaurant. The food was mouth-watering and a work of art, oh and yes…you guessed it more wine!Sunday was on the road and back to Christchurch
