Pretty plush accommodation for the mid 19th century…

Shag Valley Station was started by Johnny Jones, a whaler from Waikouiti. In 1863, he sold the property to Sir Francis Dillon Bell, the father of the country’s first New Zealand-born Prime Minister. It was around this time that the shearers’ quarters were built. The Bells still farm the 12,000+ acres, triumphing over illness, weather and errant sheep.