There is a great deal to see and do in the Oamaru area, and quite a few people use Oamaru as a base from which to explore Dunedin and Waimate, both of which are within an hour or so by car. To help our guests…

[caption id="attachment_1218" align="alignleft" width="600"] Gingerbread Waitaki District Council[/caption] Every year since 1997 we have created a gingerbread house as part of our holiday decorations, generally modelled on an architectural marvel that we visited during the year during our own holidays. Since this year we did not…

Ashley Baty, since early 2014 the sous chef at Pen-y-bryn, has just competed against young chefs from all over New Zealand in the Jeunes Chefs Rôtisseurs competition held annually by the New Zealand bailliage of the Chaîne des Rôtisseurs. This august group, with 25,000 members…

There has been a sudden spurt in reporting on interesting things in the Oamaru area, including a few articles about Pen-y-bryn Lodge itself. New Zealand's Life and Leisure magazine for September/October 2015 has no fewer than three pieces about Oamaru. The first one is about…

In mid-2014 we began the process of planning for the expansion of our three guest rooms in the Oamaru stone "Annex" building (the Nest, Park and Garden Rooms) by challenging Timaru-based architect Desmond Prisk, who had been involved in the original conversion of the Annex building…

Ashley Baty, sous chef at Pen-y-bryn, participated in the 2015 New Zealand National Final of the Hans Bueschke World Chef's Challenge, held in Christchurch at the weekend. The competitors were given the challenge of preparing a menu using a selection of ingredients provided by the…

Centurion, the travel and lifestyle magazine for American Express premium card-holders, has a special feature on "48 places to spend 48 hours", recommending Pen-y-bryn Lodge as a great place for a visit. The photo they chose to use is a photo from the one time…

Still trying to decide if Oamaru is right for you? This video, posted recently by a visitor to the Tourism New Zealand site, shows a sample of what you can expect from a visit to New Zealand's "coolest" town. Enjoy! [embed width="123" height="456"]http://genero.tv/watch-video/39633[/embed]

As a Category One historic property, the main lodge building of Pen-y-bryn is protected by Heritage NZ, preventing us from doing anything to change the appearance of any of its rooms, or to the appearance of the interior or exterior of the building. As a result,…

The Autumn 2015 (#136) issue of Heritage, the magazine of Heritage New Zealand, has been released, and one of the main articles is about Pen-y-bryn Lodge and the work we have undertaken to restore this 1889 mansion to its current state. Work continues to enhance the…