The Summit Lodge

Set on former sheep paddocks in the Gladstone district, The Summit Lodge looks out over farmland and the Tararua Ranges. The lodge was built in 2009, and the two acres around it have since been planted with native trees and fruit trees, drawing an increasing range of birdlife to the garden. Gladstone gets less rain than most of the Wairarapa, so the planting has been chosen to suit the drier ground. Three rooms take their names from native trees: Totara, Kowhai and Rimu. Each has an en-suite bathroom, a heat pump and its own patio facing the garden or farmland; the Rimu Room has an accessible super-king bed. Guests share a lounge with an open fire, useful on a cold Wairarapa night. It is a working smallholding as much as a stay. Solar panels supply power, four tanks hold rainwater, and wastewater is treated and recycled onto the garden rather than run off. Breakfast is served in the hosts' dining room using local and seasonal produce. Gladstone sits inside the Wairarapa Dark Sky Reserve, and with little ambient light nearby, the Milky Way and shooting stars are visible from the patio on a clear night. Vineyards, including one three kilometres away, sit within easy reach, and Masterton and Carterton are each about 20 minutes by road.