Ewelme Cottage

It's National Volunteer Week!
We would like to take this opportunity to thank our amazing and dedicated volunteers who contribute so much to Ewelme Cottage.
Over the past 12 months, our team of four gardening volunteers have contributed over 900 hours of their time to looking after the Ewelme Cottage gardens.
The team work tirelessly weeding, planting and tidying up the gardens. They have also restored many heritage elements of the cottage garden including uncovering hidden heritage roses, and recreating historic garden beds.
The Ewelme Cottage gardens always look incredible thanks to this amazing volunteer team, and are well worth a visit.
Ewelme Cottage is open Sundays, 10.30am to 4.30pm.
Ewelme Cottage, 14 Ayr Street, Parnell.

Once a month Highwic’s Shacklock Coal Range is fired up by volunteers who recreate traditional recipes and modern favourites in Highwic’s 1870s kitchen. For Highwic’s next coal range baking day, next Wednesday 7th June, the wonderful volunteers are taking inspiration from the original family recipe books of both the Buckland family of Highwic and the Lush family of Ewelme Cottage.

On the menu are Matilda Jane Buckland’s Sultana Cake and the Lush family’s Tunbridge Cakes.

The Sultana Cake recipe comes from Matilda’s handwritten hard-back exercise book which is inscribed with ‘M.J. Buckland, Highwic, June 5th, 1879,’ on the inside of the front cover. Matilda Jane Buckland was the second wife of auctioneer, and stock and station agent, Alfred Buckland. Together Matilda and Alfred had 11 children.

The Tunbridge Cakes, which are actually more of a biscuit than a cake, come from an exercise book inscribed with ‘Anne Lush, Ewelme Cottage, Parnell, August 1884.’ Anne was the seventh child of Reverend Vicesimus Lush and his wife Blanche. The Tunbridge cake recipe dates to 1829 and was still being used by the Lush family in the 1970s.

Both recipes can be found in ‘Time for Tea: Recipes from the kitchens of Alberton, Highwic and Ewelme Cottage’ which is available to purchase at our three Auckland properties.

It is recommended to come along between 11am and 1pm in order to see the volunteers hard at work - stoking the fire, mixing up the ingredients, and baking some delicious treats in Highwic's Shacklock Coal Range.

Adults $10, accompanied children, and Heritage New Zealand members are free.
Highwic 1862 , 40 Gillies Avenue, Epsom.

Happy Christmas!!
Ewelme Cottage will be closed on Christmas Day, Sunday 25th December and New Year's Day, Sunday 1st January.
Ewelme Cottage will reopen to the public on Sunday 8th January 2023, 10.30am to 4.30pm.

Become a time traveller at Ewelme Cottage.
Discover the meaning behind the name Vicesimus and find out the role the Vicar played in creating this unique family home and garden.
Visit Ewelme Cottage and travel through time in this haven of pages and words.

Find out more: https://bit.ly/3TDRw1o

On ANZAC Day we commemorate those New Zealanders who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country and honour those servicemen and women who did return home. Today we remember two grandsons of Vicesimus and Blanche Lush of Ewelme Cottage who lost their lives in World War One.

Walter David Ruddock was the son of Archdeacon David Ruddock and his wife Anne Ruddock (nee Lush), born on the 21st of May 1889. Walter was eager to volunteer when war broke out and enlisted on the 18th of August 1914 joining the Auckland Mounted Rifles.
He quickly rose through the military ranks; in December 1915 he was promoted to Lieutenant and upon his death held the rank of Captain.
Walter saw action in the three main war arenas in which New Zealand fought during WWI; Gallipoli, Sinai and Palestine, and the Western Front.
Captain Walter Ruddock died from wounds in France on the 13th of June 1917. He was 28.

Edward Oliver Ruddock was the second son of David and Anne. Edward was studying medicine at Edinburgh University when WWI broke out. He quickly enlisted in the British Contingent of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force.
Edward travelled to Egypt as a field engineer, where he was briefly reunited with his brother Walter, before heading for Turkey. Edward took part in the first few days of the Gallipoli Campaign however he soon became seriously unwell. He was sent back to Egypt on a hospital ship, but died from acute appendicitis on the operating table in the 17th General Hospital in Alexandria on the 11th of May 1915. He was 23.
Edward is buried at the Alexandria (Chatby) Military and War Memorial Cemetery in Egypt. When his brother Walter returned to Egypt he photographed his younger brother's grave. This photo was placed in an album by Walter which was later sent back to New Zealand. The photo of the grave sits alongside the only photo of Walter in the album.
Lest we forget.

This Sunday (6th March) Ewelme Cottage will host the first event in our concert series, 'Yours Affectionately.'
Auckland musicians, Cathie Harrop and Jennie Kahn, will tell the stories of the Lush women who called Ewelme Cottage home.
Tickets are still available. Bookings are essential. To book or for more information visit www.cathieharrop.com

After being closed for several months, Ewelme Cottage will reopen to the public this Sunday, 9th January 2022.
Ewelme Cottage will be operating at Orange under the Traffic Light System (Covid-19 Protection Framework).
All staff are fully vaccinated to help keep our communities safe and keep our heritage places accessible to as many as possible. Please be aware that all visitors (including children aged 12 years and 3 months and over) to Ewelme Cottage will be required to present their My Vaccine Pass for scanning upon arrival as well as sign in using the Covid Tracing App or manual sign in sheets. Masks will also need to be worn throughout your visit. Numbers will be limited in the cottage so you may need to wait before you come in. However, this provides the perfect opportunity for you to peruse the beautiful cottage gardens which have been lovingly looked after by our team of volunteers.
Please note we will be operating with reduced hours of 10.30am to 4pm (last recommended entry at 3.15pm) to allow time for extra cleaning.
We look forward to welcoming you back to Ewelme Cottage.

A few weeks ago, Ewelme Cottage welcomed home a very special piece of furniture. The original dining table belonging to the Lush family was very generously gifted to Ewelme Cottage by a descendant of Vicesimus Lush. The dining table has been looked after by descendants of Vicesimus and Blanche for the past 50 years. It is great that it has now returned home.
Unfortunately, Ewelme Cottage is currently closed. But once we get back down to Level 1, you will be able to visit Ewelme and see the original dining table for yourself.
Stay safe and be kind.

Its never too late to return home - even after 50 years absence and particularly if you are a table!• This historic dining table was owned and used by Rev Vicesimus Lush and his wife Blanche who built Ewelme Cottage in 1864, partially to enable their boys to attend school in Auckland.

Many of our HNZPT properties have limited collections of original items and we are always on the lookout for such things as they help recreate a sense of time and place with authentic links to the past. The table had been passed down through family members after it had been removed from Ewelme Cottage in the late 1960s when Ewelme was purchased by the then Auckland City Council. So when Heritage New Zealand Property Lead Auckland, Amy Gaimster was contacted recently by the great great grandson of Vicesiums and Blanche Lush, who offered to gift the dining table to Ewelme Cottage – it was an offer she couldn’t refuse.

The table, complete with crank handle used to extend it and increase its seating capacity, replaces one that has been on display since the cottage opened to the public in 1971. A bit of manoeuvring by Amy and her team of four saw the heavy table safely back in pride of place. They were delighted to report that the table has returned to the heart of the Lush family home.It's never too late to return home!

Ewelme Cottage will be closed this Sunday 16th August 2020 as a result of the increase in Covid-19 Alert Levels.

Stay safe and be kind.

Earlier this year Emma from Inkberry Calligraphy created a beautiful illustration of Ewelme Cottage. The illustration depicts the northern side of the cottage, with veranda and bay window. This side of the house has always been considered to be the front, even though it doesn't face the road. The veranda looks out across the cottage garden which still contains a number of exotic plants that were planted by the Lush family. Emma included some of these plants including the rare pony tail palm in her illustration of the cottage.
Emma has previously created illustrations of both Highwic 1862 and Alberton 1863 and along with the new Ewelme Cottage illustration we now have three beautiful images of Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga's Auckland properties.
Emma's illustration has been printed on to 100% cotton tea towels and tote bags. These beautiful bespoke items are now available for purchase at Ewelme Cottage.
Ewelme Cottage is open on Sundays from 10.30am through to 4.30pm.
Ewelme Cottage, 14 Ayr Street, Parnell.

The days are getting colder and winter is certainly here, however, the gardens at Ewelme Cottage are still looking beautiful. We have a very special volunteer gardening team at Ewelme who usually spend several hours every week in the cottage garden. If you are looking for something to do this weekend, why not visit Ewelme Cottage and see the roses, pomegranates and rare ponytail palm (that is still flowering!) for yourself.
Ewelme Cottage is open on Sundays from 10.30am through to 4.30pm.
Ewelme Cottage, 14 Ayr Street, Parnell.
Adults are $10 and school age children are free (four children per one paying adult).
Please note there is no onsite parking available at Ewelme.

If you were able to visit Ewelme Cottage as a new build in the 1860s this is who may have been at home – Blanche Hawkins Lush and Vicesimus Lush. Migrants to New Zealand in 1850 they came with four small children and a maid, Betsey Sainsbury, and moved to Howick where Vicesimus Lush was the first resident minister of All Saints Anglican Church. By the early 1860s the search was on for suitable secondary schooling for their children and was one driver for buying land and building in Parnell. It wasn’t meant to be a permanent family home but became that when Vicesimus died in the early 1880s. The cottage remained in family hands for just over a century until it was sold to Auckland City Council.

Ewelme Cottage has been open to the public for almost 50 years and after being closed for the past few months, Ewelme Cottage is open once again this Sunday (14th June) - although you won’t be greeted by Vicesimus or Blanche.

Ewelme Cottage is open on Sundays, from 10.30am through to 4.30pm. Adults are $10 and children are free. Please note there is no onsite parking available at Ewelme Cottage.

Ewelme Cottage, 14 Ayr Street, Parnell, Auckland.

Ewelme Cottage

Ewelme Cottage's cover photo