Sir Miles Warren launches book on his Ohinetahi garden, house and artwork

Gardens, architecture and art all come together in Sir Miles Warren’s book on his historic Governors Bay property – Ohinetahi: Garden, House and Art launched on Sunday.

Ohinetahi is Sir Miles’ home, garden and his ultimate passion. With his wry humour Sir Miles tells the fascinating history of the property, details the many architectural changes made since the house was built in the 1850s, and the trials and tribulations of its rebuild following the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes. He describes the development over the last 37 years of the stunning garden which is visited by thousands of people every year, and the gradual acquisition of the artworks that are placed around the garden and the recently developed park. Filled with beautiful photographs, plant lists and plans, Ohinetahi will be a delight for gardeners, architects, historians, art lovers and readers who will enjoy learning more of Sir Miles’ creative life.

Sir Miles says, “This book is really the culmination of all the designs and plans I’ve made over the last four decades. I’ve been keen to write a comprehensive history of Ohinetahi, or at least our tenure of it, for the future. I’ve very much enjoyed putting this together and remembering how hard it was when my sister Pauline and her husband John Trengrove and I bought Ohinetahi in 1976 when it was a virtual ruin, and the garden completely overrun and wild.

“Over the last 25 years since Pauline and John left to create a superb garden near Ohoka, I’ve been lucky enough to have had marvellous gardeners to help both maintain and further develop the garden and the park. And we’ve had a lot of fun commissioning the artwork for various spots around the garden.”

Sir Miles says that he’s not quite finished building yet. “There’s a pile of neatly squared sandstone left over from the rebuild of the house after the earthquake. Any architect faced with all this amazing material around could not resist building something. I’ve made drawings of a ‘ruined’ tower capped with stone gables to match one of the four that collapsed in the earthquake. I hope we can make a start on this next year.”

Ohinetahi: Garden, House and Art is written and published by Sir Miles Warren. It retails at $45   and is available from good bookshops. Ohinetahi is located at 31 Governors Bay Road, Governors Bay, Lyttelton Harbour. It’s open to visitors from mid-September to mid-December and then from mid-January to mid-March. Entry is $15/person.