Maungatautari Lodge Review

The cuisine is a bonus of staying at Maungatautari Lodge. Christine Scoular, co-owner and chef, is passionate about cooking and gardening. She can step out of the lodge's kitchen, pick her choice of vegetables and weave them into her menu. I dined on new potatoes and baby leeks, pulled fresh from the garden.

Christine and Peter Scoular have meticulously planned the luxurious Maungatautari Lodge, making choices based on their previous experience in hospitality.

They were determined to base the lodge menu on New Zealand cuisine and select organically grown produce. The Lodge vegetable and herb gardens are a key part of their strategy.

Christine has also found suppliers of free-range eggs, organic garlic and wonderful berries close by.

The lodge is near Cambridge, with wide views of the Waikato's lush, rolling hills and Lake Karapiro.

It is gracious countryside, with almost a landed gentry feeling. Lush pastures, painted rail fences, large entrance gateways, big estates and expansive stables dominate the surrounding land.

The Scoulars have their own passion for horses. They run a few fillies on the property and offer horse-riding, on large estates nearby. One has a dedicated horse trail meandering alongside the lake.

The lodge opened in June and the gardens are still in their infancy. They will be exquisite in about two years. Lines of magnolia edge the property, taking the eye down towards the lake.

A careful eye and a measuring tape were essential in laying out the vegetable gardens, parterre and knot gardens, says Peter.

Beyond the patio the swimming pool stretches out towards the lake.

Inside, the house is like a large and gracious country home, comfortable and with areas enticing you to drift into an armchair and relax around the fire.

The separate library is used for private meetings or dining parties. Christine and Peter have hosted several meetings and dinners for international visitors here for the Mystery Creek Field Days or to see the area's equestrian stud farms.

Beyond the lodge house are two private villas in the garden, each with a separate patio and views over the lake.

Cambridge is the English-styled village servicing the area - a bubble of business with interesting shops known to collectors of antiques. A church turned into a country store is filled with crafts to buy.

Christine and Peter had given me easy instructions to drive to the lodge but I was so busy admiring the magnificent properties and gardens nearby I overshot the driveway and carried on to the Maungatautari village with its hall and school.

It is well off the main highways and close to the park on the lake. I backtracked, looking carefully this time and following the numbers of the country road.

The nearby Maungatautari mountain area is soon to be an extensive pest-free reserve - there is support for ecotourism in the area, and locals look forward to walking tracks proposed through the reserve.

But back to that food. Christine Scoular's menus are driven by her search for the finest and best organic food.

Christine made fresh bread and muffins ready for breakfast and, later, a lunch party. Herbs from the garden were sprinkled through the breads.

Nothing goes to waste. Even the kumquats from the well-covered trees standing by the main doors would find their way into kumquat and almond marmalade.

Breakfast included orange juice, freshly squeezed to order, fresh raspberries, muesli and tiny banana muffins. The local countryside offers fresh produce and eggs. Lamb, venison and fish come from further afield.

The three-course dinner included fresh avocado mousse topped with salmon, roasted organic lamb on cinnamon parsnip with rosemary and blueberries, and a desert to die for, chocolate granache biscuits with raspberry coulis.

Christine raves about the lodge's pure spring water . "It's delicious," she says. And it was.

* Geraldine McManus was hosted by Maungatautari Lodge.

CASE NOTES

WHERE TO FIND IT:

Maungatautari Lodge, 844 Maungatautari Rd, Cambridge; ph (07) 827 2220.

* Email reservations@malodge.com

ACCOMODATION:

Contact the lodge for details of special events, packages and guest chefs.

GETTING THERE:

It's one hour, 45 minutes' drive south of Auckland, 10 minutes from Hamilton.

From Cambridge, take the main road south on SH1 for 6km.

Turn right at marked sign for Karapiro village. Continue through Karapiro village and on to the Karapiro Hydro Dam. Cross the dam. Turn left into Maungatautari Rd. Continue for 3km. Turn into driveway marked No 844, Maungatautari Lodge.

WHAT TO DO:

Swimming, massage, chip and putt golf hole, croquet, petanque.

Eco-affair Tours cruise of glow-worms on Lake Karapiro, fishing, sea-kayaking, jet-boating, six golf courses within 30 minutes' drive, tour of the Cambridge thoroughbred stud farms, walking in the Maungatautari conservation reserve, antiques shopping in Cambridge. One hour's drive to Waitomo.