You like this? Thanks. I Bought It At Larnach Castle

On friday night, I was standing in the kitchen watching Gossip Girl on my laptop while rolling some new wool into a nice tight ball when something out the window caught my eye.

 Tiny little white flakes were falling from the sky! 

That morning, it had felt nice and warm. By afternoon, it was bright and sunny but insanely windy. And by nightfall, it was freezing. Some of the snow even stuck around until the next morning. It's supposed to be like Vancouver's early June here. Summer break is less than a month away.

Last Sunday, our gracious hosts took us to Larnach castle- a sprawling manor (built in 1870) set on top of the Otago Peninsula. Normally, admission is steep ($27 to see inside the castle, $15 to view the surrounding gardens), but last weekend was their "Spring Fling" so admission was set at $5 p/p to view the gardens. 

I was a big fan of the Alice in Wonderland characters.

Miss Maya making her grand entrance. I was carrying her train.

We've been to a few spring carnivals (called spring "fete's") for various school and church fundraisers. They have the standard bake sales, silent auctions, face painting and a bouncy castle for the kids, but different from our home carnivals is the giant communal garage sales. 

I raided the table of fabric. aside from it being really cheap, I think it also held a special allure because I was buying it at a castle. For $1.50 I walked away with all of this:

Matching plaid shirts for everyone. I am guessing i have about 7 metres of the stuff.

I was so proud of my tartan that I insisted on wrapping it around myself before I let Scotty take this photo. One of the workers walked by and laughed at me. It doesn't take much to make Kiwi's think you're strange.

Succulents and black grass. I've never seen black grass before. Do we have this at home?

I loved walking around the gardens. I think since seeing Sofia Coppola's "Marie Antoinette" I have found a new appreciation for castles and the surrounding grounds. I used to hate following my mom around the nursery as she picked out plants, now I realize I am going to be on the other side of that with my own kids. I'll be annoyed by them being little twerps and acting like me picking our dahlias is the lamest thing ever while I have to tolerate their dumb music they play over and over again. 

I'm getting mad even thinking about them giving me attitude.

Why can't I just do one thing for myself without you rolling your eyes?

"I NEED A PIG!" I really got into the Queen of Hearts thing. I think it's best i don't get one of these chairs for myself.

Perhaps it was because it was one of the few tapes we had growing up, or maybe it was that it triggered my imagination, but Disney's cartoon version of "Alice in Wonderland" was one of my favourite movies growing up. An Alice in Wonderland themed garden is a dream. The perfectly cut grass and shaped hedges made me wish there were flamingos and gophers around for some Queen of Hearts style croquet.

Anyone fancy a game of croquet? 

Grape vines leading to a pond complete with white geese and sweeping views of the inlet below. 

Trying to fool the geese into coming closer by pretending I had food. They didn't pay me no mind.

After my blog post on visiting Larnach's mausoleum on Halloween, I totally freaked myself out. I had opened a few sites to get some background info on him and I started reading about all the reports of the castle being haunted. According to some, Larnach's castle is a VERY haunted place. I won't go into a lot of details, mainly because I don't want to (it's nearly midnight and I am here alone- Scotty and Brian are out eating fast food), but there have been a lot of deaths in Larnach's family. His first wife died suddenly in her bedroom from heart failure. His second died in the castle from blood poisoning (oddly enough, both women were 38 when they died... oh, and they were half sisters). His daughter died when she was 27. Larnach committed suicide when he found out his third wife (a much younger lady) was having an affair with his son. His son later committed suicide.

Cursed? Perhaps. But one thing is certain: the hairs are standing up on the back of my neck, so I am changing the subject.

Can you just imagine the soirees I would host here? I don't need a big house, or a fancy walk in closet, just give me a GIANT dining hall. I'll justify it by hosting many fundraisers.

Larnach built this dining hall for his favourite daughter (who died 5 years later) for her birthday. It boasts 2 fireplaces and some amazing chandeliers.

Moss makes me homesick

Spring time in the south

There were free carriage rides as part of the "spring fling"- most groups ahead of us consisted of one or two adults and one or two children. We crammed four adults and one child into our ride. Who do you really think this is about, the children? Don't worry folks, we've got a child with us, relax.

As we were walking into church the first Sunday we got here, little Maya yelled out "i have TWO daddy's" I couldn't blame her- they were dressed in matching outfits (unplanned). That comment would be appropriate here also.

Poor horse, poor Maya. We offered our laps, but she was quite happy to be smushed between Scotty and Brian. I'm pretty sure she saw nothing but a lot of adults invading her personal space. Sorry for ruining the romantic scenery.

Maybe someone should come down here and get married? I'll plan the decor. Free of charge.

Glass greenhouses. Turns out I have a thing for them. Didn't realize it until this day.

Succulents- they're just wonderful.

See? Black grass. UH-MAZING.