2 Best Sights in Christchurch and Canterbury, New Zealand

Visit this beautifully restored Arts and Crafts movement home, enjoy tea or lunch in the Mona Vale Pantry, and stroll or punt along the Avon River and through the well-tended perennial gardens. Built in 1899, the house and 13½-acre gardens were almost lost to the city in the 1960s when the estate was in danger of being subdivided. A public campaign saw the homestead "sold" to individual Christchurch residents for NZ$10 per square foot. To get here, you can catch a 29 City-Airport via Fendalton bus and get off a short stroll from the entrance.

The Deans, a Scottish family, beat even the Canterbury Association settlers to this region. Riccarton Bush, their home, is now run by a trust. You can view the small wooden cottage (built 1843) that was their first house. The larger Victorian–Edwardian wooden house, built between 1856 and 1900, now houses a café called Local. Guided heritage tours are available; check the website for details. You can also amble through the last remnant of the original native floodplain forest still standing in Christchurch, with its 600-year-old kahikatea trees. The Christchurch Farmers' Market is held in the grounds of Riccarton House each Saturday morning from 9 to 1, and there are guided house tours at 11 am and 2 pm Sunday through Friday.