Media

Warwick House – Media Features

Press Articles

Newspapers

  • The Nelson mail: 2 full page feature July 2004
  • Christchurch Press: travel section Feature 31st August 2005
  • Sunday Star Times: Travel  Oct. 2004.
  • Adelaide Advertiser: Travel Feature 6th Feb 2006, and follow up article Dec.06
  • Courier Post, Brisbane: Travel Feature 4th March 2006
  • The Leader Nelson: Murder Mystery night article July 06
  • Tne Nelson Mail: ‘Castle of Surprises’ Feature 9th Feb. 07
  • Dominion Post: An old friend, Nelson 6th Sept 07

Television

  • TV 2: My House, My Castle  Aug. 2004
  • HGTV: ‘Extreme Homes Downunder’ April & September 2006 (US Home and Garden Channel)

Magazines

  • Maruia Nature Catalogue 2005: Front cover feature
  • Bar: & Dining Magazine Korea April 2005
  • Progressive Building: Feature August / September 2005
  • NZ House and Garden: Jan. 2006 Feature
  • NZ House and Garden April 2006 Follow up article
  • Delicious Magazine: Feb 2006
  • Meiers Weltreisen: German Travel Group 06/07 Broschure
  • Landhaus Living: German Magazine Feature Aug. 06
  • NZ Heritage Magazine: ‘Renovators Delight’ March 07
  • Nelson/Marlborough Calendar 08: July Feature

Awards

  • Nelson Marlborough ‘Emerging Business of the Year’ award 05/06
  • DMOZ/ Yahoo – Feature website. March 07

A Gothic-inspired castle lies in the heart of New Zealand’s eclectic town of Nelson.

Travel Editor Jessica Hurt soaks up the splendour of a bygone era.

Standing in my room – the opulent blue velvet curtains swirling around the open window, a fireplace in the corner and a grand old bed inviting me to slumber – it doesn’t take much to imagine I have been whisked away to the mid-1800s. With its
imposing towers and turrets, the castle has been the fantasy of many a Nelson child over the years.
Below is Nelson, an eclectic South Island port city with a thriving arts and food and wine culture. This is Warwick House, one of the
finest examples of early Victorian opulence and grandeur in New Zealand and now a unique, luxury B&B.
In its old life, my bedroom would have been the gentleman’s room and it doesn’t take much to imagine a group of men, smoking cigars, huddled around a small table playing cards next to a roaring fire. In the bathroom,
a sunken bath, set off by shiny gold taps, is an original piece from the home. Oriental rugs line the floorboards in one of the main bedrooms, while the leather couches with their plush maroon cushions look like the perfect place to spend a rainy afternoon curled up with a good book. With that thought, it’s

REDISCOVERIES
Renovator’s Delight

Warwick House of Nelson, Affectionately known as “The Castle”, has been provately and expensively returned to its former splendour.
By Gerard Hindmarsh

Perced on a conspicuous promontory at the foot of the Grampian mountains, overlooking Nelson, Warwick House has enjoyed the city’s pride of place since it was built in 1854. But this sprawling 1125 square metre (12,000 square foot), 37-room, four-storey, turreted establishment, described in its heyday as the grandest and most luxurious home in New Zealand, spent the best part of 70 years hiding her most ornate secrets within a myriad of false internal walls and ceilings, divided up into five apartments.

That was until early 2003, when former expatriates Nick and Jenny Ferrier returned from 13 years working in Asia with plans to set up a family home for themselves and their three children. Warwick House, commonly known as “The Castle” by many Nelsonians, had been on and off the market for nearly a decade by that time. Hundreds of people had looked at it with an eye to buying, but that was always as far as they got. Warwick House was an obvious handyman’s dream to the extreme.

Having just arrived in Nelson from Hong Kong Nelson is all charm and sunshine, as Bess Manson discovers during a weekend held to launch the city’s arts festival.

Warwick House, locally known as the Castle, awaited. Described as Victorian Gothic Revivalist style, the vast building is tucked

into the hills that surround the city. Built in 1854 by Alfred Fell, Warwick House has been through several transformations. In 2003, Nick and Jenny Ferrier bought it and began restoring it to beyond its former glory. The tower room made a girl feel like a princess. My bathroom was bigger than some flats I have lived in. The clawfoot bath overlooked the Grampian Hills. In short, it was grand.

It was a shame to leave after the grand breakfast in the ballroom with fellow travelers.

Tel +64 3 548 3164
Freephone 0800 022 233
enquiries@warwickhouse.co.nz
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