Ayrlies Garden and Wetlands

This truly beautiful garden began in 1964 with a 1.2 hectare bare paddock of heavy coastal clay, and now covers some 4 hectares of rolling terrain including sweeping lawns and informal but detailed plantings by ponds and waterways. The thirty-five acre wetland situated adjacent to the garen consisted of an eight acre lake that is seen from many parts of the garden and in its own way links the garden to the sea.  Ayrlies has been created by Beverley McConnell and her late husband Malcolm.  The New Zealand Gardens Trust has ranked Ayrlies as a Garden of International Significance.