A Living Storybook Etched in Timber, Garden, and Light
Old Forest School is a world quietly unfolding across orchards, meadows, gravelled paths, and timbered halls, shaped by seasons, generations, and deliberate stewardship.
Here, formal gardens slip into wildflower meadows. Hedgerows lean into orchards heavy with fruit. Ancient trees cradle sweeping lawns and vine-draped courtyards.
The estate hums with life, dragonflies above the wildlife pond, songbirds threading melodies through the poplar stands, wild grasses leaning into stone.
Beyond the meadows and tree walks, the School Baths glint among wildflowers at Oak Meadow. A tennis court from the 1940s stretches toward the forest edge. The Fernery spills green shadows beneath wisteria and ferns. The Wildlife Pond drifts lilies across its glass surface. Gravelled courtyards, secret pavilions, heritage sheds, and barns scatter memory across the fields. And tucked quietly among them all, the Walled Garden, a place for reverence, roses, and slow breathing.
“Every stone, every branch, every blade of wild grass, listening.”
The estate moves with the seasons: climbing roses spill across weathered walls, hedgerows bow heavy under the weight of bloom, meadows scatter themselves with poppies, daisies, and cornflowers. Clematis threads old brick and moss-covered stone.
Old Forest School began its life in 1933 as a country school, carved into the quiet heart of the Bay of Plenty. Today, it stands reimagined as a private heritage estate for celebrations of uncommon beauty, where restored timber buildings, native gardens, heirloom orchards, and formal courtyards weave a setting both storied and deeply alive.
