Historic Te Waimate Mission offers festive fun and tranquility this December

Enjoy a touch of Christmas at Te Waimate Mission.

Staff at Te Waimate Mission – the second oldest building in New Zealand – will be decking the halls, walls and a lot more besides during the weeks leading up to Christmas.

The historic mission building, which is cared for by Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga and is also a Tohu Whenua, will be adorned in keeping with the festive season, and will also be offering games and crafts for visiting children.

Visitors can take time out from the seasonal rush and experience an old-fashioned Christmas.

As well as dressing up the grand old house for the festive season there will be kids’ activities on the go (adult supervision essential) – including making a vintage decoration for the tree, creating Christmas cards, going on one (or all) of the three treasure hunts on offer, and posting a letter to Father Christmas in a special mailbox.

Te Waimate Mission, the country’s second oldest building, will host a number of events leading up to Christmas.

People are also encouraged to bring the whānau for a peaceful picnic on the lawn and take part in some optional games, while also taking time out to stop and smell the roses.

Visitors to Te Waimate at Christmas time will be in good company. Evolutionist Charles Darwin washed up at Te Waimate Mission on Christmas Eve in 1835. Darwin, who was travelling around the world on the Beagle, had arrived in the Bay of Islands a few days earlier and headed out to Te Waimate to catch some of the scenery.

When he came across Te Waimate Mission he reached for his pen: “At length we reached Waimate. After having passed over so many miles of an uninhabited useless country, the sudden appearance of an English farmhouse and its well dressed fields, placed there as if by an enchanter’s wand, was exceedingly pleasant.”

Darwin raved about the crops of barley and wheat he saw at Te Waimate, and was overwhelmed by a huge range of familiar produce – “every fruit and vegetable which England produces” – including asparagus, kidney beans, cucumbers, rhubarb and much, much more.

“Darwin wasn’t that complimentary about the rest of the Bay of Islands, but he was clearly delighted by what he found at Te Waimate Mission,” says Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Hokianga Properties lead, Lindis Capper-Starr.

“We find Te Waimate still has the same effect on visitors today. It is a little oasis of genuine beauty and tranquility and people often remark about it being a hidden gem.”

Enjoy Te Waimate’s Christmas offerings on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from December 13 to December 29, between 10am and 5pm. Children under 18 are free with a paying adult – $10. Garden access for picnics is free.