Orchard Grove is part of Barn Pinch Farm on the shores of Lake Wānaka, which has been put on the market by the Blennerhassett family.
As one of the last remaining fragments of Wānaka Station, the 34ha property has not been on the market for more than 100 years.
It sits on the west boundary of Wānaka, between Waterfall Creek and Rippon Vineyard, and was developed over 50 to 60 years by the late Jill Blennerhassett, the granddaughter of former station owner Sir Percy Sargood, and her pathologist husband Prof John Blennerhassett.
The Blennerhassetts were aged in their late 80s when they died a month apart in 2022, and are survived by six children — John, Nicola, Stewart, Robyn, Jenny and Hamish — and several grandchildren.
Family members approached by the Otago Daily Times yesterday said they preferred not to speak to the media for privacy reasons.
However, Robyn Blennerhassett said "my only hope is that whoever buys it gets to enjoy it as a family, as we did, with all its specialness".
Wānaka Station was one of 30 runs in the Upper Clutha created from The Wastelands Act 1858.
Some Wānaka public reserves, including Wānaka Station Park and part of the Wānaka Golf Course, were originally part of the bigger station.
Over time, as Wānaka township grew, blocks of land were sold to developers for residential development.
Mrs Blennerhassett inherited her portion of the bigger farm from her parents Guilielma (Billie) and Stewart (Sandy) Macpherson in 1970.
When Prof Blennerhassett retired from the University of Otago’s School of Medicine in Dunedin in 2001, the couple moved fulltime to Barn Pinch Farm, which by then was a park-like estate.
The property was the intense focus of international and local media when former All Blacks captain Richie McCaw married former Black Sticks hockey player Gemma Flynn at the Olive Grove wedding venue in 2017.
The neighbouring Rippon Vineyard is also a remnant of Wānaka Station.
