Sitting above Palliser Bay on a 3,200-acre working sheep station at the southern tip of the Wairarapa, Wharekauhau Country Estate presents itself from the water meadows as something between a grand farmstead and a colonial manor — multiple steep gabled rooflines, tall grouped chimneys, and white-painted facades mirrored in the still lake below, the Remutaka ranges filling the sky behind. Queenstown architect Fred van Brandenburg designed the Edwardian-inspired main lodge for a 1998 opening, and the scale and massing feel deliberate: large enough to hold its own against the landscape, domestic enough to feel like someone's house. Virginia Fischer's original interiors for the 16 Cottage Suites, each 70 square metres, set the material tone — exposed timber rafters painted white, four-poster beds hung with cream linen curtains suspended from iron rods, rattan chairs beside French doors opening onto private gardens, heated marble floors underfoot and gas fireplaces built into gabled end walls. The communal spaces show the layering work of Wellington studio Kurio, whose ongoing refresh since around 2012 has brought herringbone brick floors into the dining pavilion, sage-painted tongue-and-groove ceilings opening to clerestory windows, brass pendant lanterns dropping into double-height space, and a formal dining room furnished in dark-painted sideboards and taupe upholstered chairs gathered around a stone fireplace. New Zealand wool carpeting, pebble mosaics, and clay tiles throughout keep the property grounded in what this part of the country actually produces.

1hr 30min drive from Wellington airport (WLG)

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