Tophouse Homestead survives

NIGEL PHOENIX: Restoration, not renovation, is his philosophy.

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Shotgun pellets in the veranda ceiling are relics of 19th- century treble fatalities at a historic Nelson hotel. It still has New Zealand's smallest bar, and wild game has returned to the dining table, writes HELEN MURDOCH.

Squatting on the old drovers' pass bordering Nelson, Marlborough and Canterbury, the 122-year- old Tophouse Homestead Historic Bed and Breakfast, near St Arnaud, is a slice of living history.

The stoic cob building, with its metre-thick walls, is a Category-A listed historic place and has hardly changed since it opened during a snowstorm in 1887.

Imagine today's smooth front lawn and scattered tables replaced by a waiting horse-drawn Newman's coach and you step back 100 years.

Originally called The Top House, the building is the last working survivor of a chain of pioneering accommodation houses each built a day's coach journey apart.

Today, visitors are greeted by owner Nigel Phoenix, a charismatic Englishman who bought the hotel with his wife, Lesley, on the spur of the moment in 2007.

Fortunately, restoration, not renovation, is the couple's catchcry, and Phonenix enthusiastically gives free history tours of the homestead while regaling visitors with its checkered history of murders and ghosts.

Four visitors have already reported the "presence of peddler Sidney Smith, whose regular visits to sell pots and pans ended when he was fatally kicked by a horse and ran inside the hotel, dying in the hallway", says Phoenix.

A clairvoyant contracted by previous owners reported Smith saying his haunt was "warm and comfortable and I'll be staying around".

Pointing to shotgun pellets in the veranda ceiling, Phoenix narrates the story of William Bateman, a drover from nearby Lake Station, who became jealous of hotel manager John Lane's attention to Catherine Wylie, the hotel housekeeper/ governess.

On October 4, 1894, Bateman - after convincing Lane to go rabbit shooting - shot him in the head at the back of the hotel. He then enticed telegraphist William Wallis from his nearby telegraph office and shot him.

Wylie fled to the telegraph office with the three children in her care and, along with Mrs Wallis, barricaded the building against Bateman. Summoned by an emergency telegraph, Nelson police arrived the next day to find Bateman had shot himself in the head on the hotel's front veranda.

Perched on the end of the veranda, just past the shotgun-pellet holes, is reputedly New Zealand's smallest bar. Built from used packing cases in 1926, the bar, complete with windows and a few stools, has standing room for six drinkers.

Until that day, drinkers were served from a cupboard in the lounge, which is still there today.

The cupboard licence limited the amount of alcohol consumed by restricting the size of the cupboard.

But in 1926 the Licensing Commission demanded a decent bar and the owners complied with the packing-case construction which operated until 1969, when the Licensing Commission deemed it unfit, ending the longest-running liquor licence in the country.

Phoenix restored the bar's licence last year and visitors can again enjoy cool ales and wines from the country's smallest bar.

Inside the dining room, the homestead's original long-planked kahikatea dining table still takes pride of place between the massive open fire and deep-sash front windows.

Phoenix has returned wild game to the fixed menu and venison, with pork and tahr prepared for booked diners in the revamped kitchen.

Daytime guests can partake in a full lunch menu, and unique catering is only a phone call away for groups and tours.

Phoenix recently became a marriage celebrant, so he now can provide accommodation, food and alcohol, and preside over a wedding.

There are beds for 14 guests within the hotel while those who want a more modern touch can stay in the adjoining self-contained chalets.

Phoenix, who runs the hotel with manager Randall Uitendaal and assistant Sue Reeve, admits Tophouse will never be a great money-spinner but the reward is sharing such a unique piece of New Zealand history.

"We are not going to change Tophouse to suit people. People ask if we have ensuite bedrooms, but I maintain that when this place was built, they had a hand pump and a long drop and customers are welcome to use them both."

But full shared facilities are available in the homestead, and the ambience and $65-a-night price tag for bed and breakfast more than compensate for the lack of an ensuite. The historic homestead is on Tophouse Rd, about 40 minutes drive from Nelson on State Highway 63, en route to Nelson Lakes National Park and Lake Rotoiti and St Arnaud village.

- © Fairfax NZ News