This is a tiny luxury hotel, bar and glorious $40+ mains restaurant. Escape to Picton is the brainchild of energiser-bunny, chef, hotel owner, former model, entrepreneur and ball of dynamite Juliearna Kavanagh who used to own and run Kavanagh House in Winchester, north of Timaru.

The food at Escape to Picton matches any cuisine in the main cities and has the bonus of having tranquil Marlborough Sounds upmarket ambience. The building is the 1907-built BNZ Bank. It was derelict until Juliearna did NZ architects and historical protection a favour and ‘did it up’.

The tiny three-bedroom $450 a night hotel is equal to any $1000 a night lodge in Queenstown plus it has pizzazz, oomph and staggeringly fine food. I loved their seafood chowder of fish, salmon, mussel and scallop with their homebake bread. The pumping jazz music lifts the building into another planet.

The sun shines, the Seresin Reserve chardonnay flows and the salmon on baked caramelised salmon is uncluttered, heavenly and dovetails perfectly with the environment. A southern French front of house manager is a perfect host. An Irish gap year student waiter and bar staff adds quality to the evening. A smiling blonde waitress named Jenna is a genuine and naturally gifted hostess who puts me totally at ease. Above all, there is Juliearna, Marlborough’s answer to Fleur of famous Fleur’s in Moeraki 500km south – and more!

There is ranking system for accommodation in New Zealand based on stars. Five stars and above being luxury; four stars and below being cheaper, less in quality.

They should scrap this idea and base the system on pillows. The Escape to Picton tiny hotel in New Zealand would be right at the top as a 13-pillow hotel. That’s what I had in my ‘Modern Suite’ and it was divine. This is one of the sexiest most romantic hideaways in New Zealand and it is brand spanking new.  Well, new as in newly opened. But Escape to Picton is a boutique hotel, bar and restaurant in a 101 year old building.

The lodge is Juliearna’s creation. She set up and ran Kavanagh House is the southern part of New Zealand for 15 years. Then she bought Escape to Picton, as a derelict old building on April fool’s Day 2007. She is a great chef and wonderful personality. Her husband Killinan Kavanagh, who lives in Dublin, runs the graphics design company for the band U2, is a former top rugby player and his dad was an Irish senator.

Juliearna wondered past the old building two years ago and decided on the spot to buy it. It was run down, unused but she was determined to restore the 1907 old bank, rather than have it flattened for a modern building.

With a designer friend, Juliearna transformed the old bank into the finest luxury lodge in this part of the world. The colours are soothing, the fittings stunning and some features outright romantic...such as the sexy stand alone sway bathe in the middle of the bathroom of the Formal Suite.

This is the perfect escape in the first step on to the scenic and majestic South Island.  Highly recommended.

Article by Kip Brook, www.wordofmouthnz.com

Be first to comment this article

Only registered users can write comments.

Please login or register.