jane cooper, alexia wines

#finewineday

Morning

A quick dash to The French Baker, Greytown for a loaf of Rusty’s famous wholemeal sourdough and a couple of pastry treats for breakfast.

Post breakfast run or bike ride around Greytown – the Greytown Rail Trail (entrance off West Street Greytown) is a favourite if I’m with kids, lots of space to ride, trees to climb and animals to see. Otherwise there are lots of back road loops perfect solo for a run/ride.

A trip to the weekly Saturday outdoor Featherston fresh fruit and vege market to stock up for the week. No shopping trip to Featherston is complete without a wander down to C’est Cheese for an interesting cheese or two and a quick look for books at one of the great range of second hand book shops.

Afternoon

·Early afternoon it’s lunch on the run with a pie to go from Clareville Bakery just north of Carterton. One of their creamy chicken and bacon or steak and cheese pies eaten straight from the paper bag and I’m in pie heaven.

 Then it’s in the car and heading north for a Family walk up to Rocky Lookout. The Mt Holdsworth entrance to the Tararuas is only 30 minutes’ drive from Greytown and is super popular with locals. It’s a great, mostly uphill, but well graded track, 1.5 – 2 hours return depending on the number of stops. A great walk to do with kids and visitors and the view at the top of the ranges and down the valley out east is fantastic. Pack snacks and drinks.

*Entrance is (2 km south of Masterton, turn off SH2 into Norfolk Road, which turns into Mt Holdsworth Road) 

A post walk/afternoon pick me up is a real fruit ice-cream from The Big Apple on the outskirts of Greytown. You can’t miss this place as it’s shaped like an apple. The ice creams are made to order using real frozen fruit and a huge range of flavours from boysenberry to tamarillo served in a crispy waffle cone. Yum!

Evening 

Late afternoon/early evening and a glass of wine in the sun on the deck of The White Swan in the middle of Greytown while the kids share a cone of hot chips is a great place to end the day.