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About Marlborough
St Leonards Vineyard Cottages is located in the heart of Marlborough, New Zealand.
Marlborough wine country
St Leonards is located in the heart of Marlborough's main wine region and offers a central base from which you can explore all the sights of Marlborough.
Many visitors will know of Marlborough's reputation as the home of the world's best Sauvignon Blanc wine. The region has more than 160 wineries that in addition to Sauvignon Blanc, also produce Chardonnay, Riesling, Pinot Gris, Gewürztraminer and Pinot Noir.
Several wineries have cellar doors, and St Leonards is close to Marlborough's famous Wine Trail, with Cloudy Bay, Jackson Estate, Allan Scott and the Moa Brewery being just around the corner, and many more just beyond.
Contact us for recommendations on half-day or full-day wine tours, with many options available including guided and independent bike hire, group van tours and private tours.
The Marlborough Sounds
The Marlborough Sounds are within a 30-minute drive from St Leonards Vineyard Cottages. The Sounds are the first port of call for those who take the ferry journey from Wellington to the South Island.
The internationally-renowned Marlborough Sounds, a major network of fjord waterways, is home to significant aquaculture activity, recreational water, and adventure sports, rare New Zealand native bird breeding programmes and a range of adventure walks. At times, accommodation in the Sounds is some of the most sought after in the country.
The Sounds is also steeped in New Zealand's history as the site of some of the earliest interactions between British explorer Captain James Cook and indigenous Māori.
The Sounds offer a wide range of activities from, guided and freedom walks through native forest, adventure sports, fishing, dolphin watching, nature cruises and diving - talk to us about some of the many experiences you can have in the Sounds while staying at St Leonards Vineyard Cottages.
More to explore
The Wairau and Awatere Valleys, home of a world-class wine making region with cuisine to match, also have some of the earliest and most comprehensively documented Māori settlements.
The New Zealand High Country is truly unique and spectacular. Various tours are available, of special interest is the tour through the 165,000 high country Molesworth Cattle Station. The Molesworth was originally one of the largest private sheep stations in New Zealand during the nineteenth century and passes through some spectacular scenery.
Even if you're not an aviation buff, the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre is an outstanding world-class museum featuring many of filmmaker Sir Peter Jackson's private collection of WW1 aircraft and memorabilia, together with an eye-opening collection of WW2 aircraft and memorabilia owned by private collectors. Contact us to add a visit to the centre to your cottage reservation.
Staying with us in the winter? Rainbow Skifield is only an hour-and-a-half drive from St Leonards Vineyard Cottages, and has ski and snowboard hire facilities. Head to the slopes for the day and relax in front of a hot fire back in your vineyard cottage, or gaze at the stars while relaxing in our toasty spa pool.
The picturesque St Arnaud village is also an hour-and-a-half away, offering year-round hiking and boating activities by stunning Lake Rotoiti.
The Marlborough region is renowned for its world-famous Sauvignon Blanc, high-country farming, and the mystical Marlborough Sounds.
Marlborough is located at the top of New Zealand's South Island and is easily accessible by air (Air New Zealand, Sounds Air), inter-island ferries (Interislander and Bluebridge), train from Christchurch and Kaikoura, or road from Christchurch, Kaikoura, Nelson, St Arnaud and the West Coast. The province is distinctive in its landscape, history and attractions.
Blenheim is situated in the heart of Marlborough’s world-famous wine growing area, at the top of the South Island. It is one of the sunniest towns in New Zealand, enjoying hot and relatively dry summers with cool crisp winters.
Mountains frame the Blenheim area and trap the summer heat (temperatures around 30°c are quite normal in January, February and March).