Flockhill

Celebrated Sheep Station—Exclusive Wilderness Lodge

This vast homestead has been celebrated as the world’s most stylish and luxurious sheep station, and rightly so. The 36,000-acre, high-country estate strikes a rugged, utilitarian pose so well suited to the jutting limestone crags and dramatic mountains encircling it, that it seems an integral part of its moody, evocative landscape. 

A Travel + Leisure Top 50 pick and a favorite of the FT’s How to Spend It, and The New York Times' T Travel, FLOCKHILL Homestead's sophistication and beauty have everything to do with its stark simplicity and privileged location in magnificently wild surroundings.

Humbly referred to as The Homestead, the linear lodge created by multi-award-winning architects Warren and Mahoney stands alone on a hillside of tufted native grasses at the center of a sheer valley shadowed by brooding peaks. The rock formations and majestic views extend the exclusive home, unspoiled for miles, encompassing Lake Pearson, Sugar Loaf peak and the neighbouring rugged slopes home to Flock Hill Station’s resident sheep.

Formidable architectural elements—cast concrete walls, limestone floors and black steel—define the home as a bold mountain lodge, yet the property’s sparse interiors offer a haven of warmth and refinement. This is a home created for guests to experience the remarkable remoteness, all the while enjoying gentler creature comforts. Rooms within the lodge offer a strong, protective embrace. Furnishings allow for the warm barefoot comfort you embrace in your home, and the wood-clad accent walls soften the space. A wine cellar reveals an intimate, rich wood interior, and the lodge’s timbered, pitched ceiling recalls the simple, local agricultural vernacular, a utilitarian design reference to the farm sheds dotting the unpopulated area.

Meals are a part of the experience, and the estate’s private chef tailors menus to guests, using local ingredients and seasonal preparations. Dining areas include the farmhouse kitchen, the dining room flanked by a wide steel hearth and roaring fire, and a sheltered barbecue area. There are multiple outdoor spaces to relax and lounge. From the terrace, there is the spa, pool, and fire pit.

Experiences

Included in stay: private chef and attendant; daily breakfast (continental or cooked) with barista coffee; homemade snacks, soft drinks, juices, sparkling and chilled water, coffee and tea; daily lunch (picnic or relaxed); nightly canapes; nightly dinner (four-course, family-style or barbecue); use of mountain bikes and e-bikes.

Adventurous spirits will enjoy the incredible undisturbed wilderness. The scope of the land allows for cycling, hiking, kayaking and paddleboarding, along with fly fishing, bouldering, and caving. Helicopter-accessed food and wine tours offer gentler pursuits, and for big adventurers, the lodge can arrange for hunting, whale watching, truffle hunting, picnicking on mountain glaciers, jet-boating, golf, fly your own helicopter, and seasonal guided heli-skiing.

Around

Set off the Great Alpine Highway in New Zealand’s remote Southern Alps, the Homestead is positioned within Flock Hill’s working sheep station, home to more than 11,000 sheep and 450 cattle. Situated close to New Zealand’s renowned Arthur’s Pass, the Homestead resides in 36,000 acres encircled by dramatic mountains.

Flock Hill Station history tells of sheltering travellers moving from east to west along the main trading route. Early Māori would shelter in the limestone outcrops and from Moana Rua (Lake Pearson) they would gather food. It was known as mahinga kai—a food bowl site.

Even the most well-travelled can expect to be moved by the homestead’s majestic surroundings. The area is untouched by development and home to indigenous flora and fauna and breathtaking night skies showcasing the Milky Way and Southern Cross. The Dalai Lama called the area “the spiritual center of the universe”.

Location

Southern Alps, Aotearoa, New Zealand. Nearest airport: Christchurch (1½ hours)

Best time to visit

Year round