Spring is blossoming in the Waikato

Spring has arrived and, with it, brings this year’s Waikato Cherry Tree Festival.

The event, organised by NZ Pure Tour, will be held under a beautiful pink blossom canopy at English Cherry Tree Manor in Tamahere.

The festival had its debut this time last year, which, according to founder and organiser Paul Oulton, was all a bit of an accident.

“The whole thing was an accident really. We used to have a drive of Paulownia trees and they were nice, but they were very brittle and when there was a storm they’d just fall over and you’d have to get the chainsaw out just to get out of your drive.

“So, we decided to change to cherry trees. But rather than fell all the trees at once, we planted the cherry trees in between to let them grow up a bit. That had the advantage of making them grow very tall and straight because they were reaching for the light.”

The cherry trees were planted more than 10 years ago and have now formed a canopy.

“Each year more and more people would come and take photographs.

“Not only would they take photographs, but they’d walk down the drive and even on one occasion there was a bride and groom with a professional photographer.

“So there used to be dozens of people on our driveway and because there’s a bend at the top of our driveway people would only see us just as we rounded it and when they did, they would run,” Paul laughed.

This made him think it would nice to welcome people instead of seeing them run away.

The English Cherry Tree Manor is not just a beautiful driveway though. Paul has also created an English garden over 22 years and there is accommodation available at the manor.

The festival is not just a walk in the garden with bluebells, primulas and poppies carpeting the ground, but food and drink vendors will supply a delicious spread with entertainment buzzing all around. 

Stilt walkers, human statues, face painting, evening lights, fire twirlers, Japanese drummers, a red dragon, gentle Chinese lute music contrasting with fierce kung fu dance performances are just some of the wonderful happenings in store for attendees.

This festival will run from 8am till 8pm for three days from Friday 21 to Sunday 23, September; one more day than last year.

Last year saw more than 2000 people come through from all over the North Island and the event sold out in a week.

It was so popular they had to turn people away and add an extra day the following weekend.

“It’s a great event for families and couples and friends – they’re all taking photographs of each other, there’s a lot of warmth around, it’s Spring. We were lucky with the weather last year, hopefully we will be this year,” Paul said.

He said the aspiration is to create an iconic event in the Waikato.

“There are certain events in the Waikato that are really iconic … things like Fieldays, Balloons Over Waikato. When you think of agriculture or balloons, you think of the Waikato. I think the Waikato Cherry Tree Festival would be a really good iconic event, the photographs get massive attention. It portrays the Waikato as a beautiful place.”

This year Paul is expecting more guests, even the Consulate General of Japan will be there.

“Japan is famous for its cherry trees so we extended an invitation and they have confirmed they are coming,” Paul said.

For pricing and to get your tickets see https://en.nzpuretour.com/waikato-cherry-tree-festival/.