Sun shines on old friend Nelson

OLD FRIENDS: Warwick House is a Victorian Gothic Revivalist building which sits in the hills that surround Nelson, a city that is like a best friend that never lets you down on vacation.

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Nelson is all charm and sunshine, as Bess Manson discovers during a weekend held to launch the city's arts festival.

Nelson is like a best friend. She never lets you down. Her loyalty was demonstrated yet again when I arrived back in the port city after years away and she turned on the sun and kept it shining all weekend.

As we landed at Nelson Airport I breathed a sigh of relief to be back on the mainland, where the days seem longer and brighter, no matter the season.

I was there for the launch of the Nelson Arts Festival. Nelson is still in mourning over its loss of the Montana World of WearableArt Show. But you can't keep a good town down and, come next month, it will be back to its artistic self with its annual celebration of the arts.

The festival's come a long way in 13 years. Starting out as a few events to piggyback on the success of WOW, it now has more than 60 national and international events. The big drawcard for this year's festival, which runs from October 11-22, is Corporacion Tango. The troupe from Buenos Aires is one of a smattering of overseas acts the festival has secured through cost-sharing with other arts events across the ditch.

The programme includes a masked parade, a readers and writers event and a sculpture exhibition to be held in Albion Square.

The launch shindig was held, appropriately, at the WOW and Collectable Cars Museum on the edge of the city. Nelsonians are very proud of this relatively new addition, though it seems a somewhat sad reminder that the live show has left home.

Every mover and shaker in the local arts world turned up for the launch and, after the speeches and ribbon-cutting, there was a performance from a tie-dye-wearing fire dancer, whose dreadlocks miraculously escaped being engulfed in flames. She was so good people stopped swilling their Seifried chardonnay and watched her till she extinguished the flames in the shallow pool that surrounded her.

Several glasses later, our small gaggle of journalists was herded off to the Saltwater Cafe on the Quay for supper. This was not a stiff occasion but a wild dinner party with an eclectic bunch of artists, writers, health gurus and a few other hangers-on. Over a spectacular menu that started with oysters, continued with scallops and venison and ended with a deeply chocolatey pudding, much local wine was drunk.

If I hadn't been so keen to get back to my hotel, I would have stuck around to the bitter end.

But Warwick House, locally known as the Castle, awaited. Described as Victorian Gothic Revivalist style, the vast building is tucked into the hills that surround the city. Built in 1854 by Alfred Fell, Warwick House has been through several transformations. In 2003, Nick and Jenny Ferrier bought it and began restoring it to beyond its former glory. The tower room made a girl feel like a princess. My bathroom was bigger than some flats I have lived in. The clawfoot bath overlooked the Grampian Hills. In short, it was grand.

It was a shame to leave the next day after breakfast in the ballroom with my fellow guests, but I had a date with the famous Nelson market.

Prowling through the market was a delicious experience. We're not just talking homemade jam and woolly jerseys here. There are stalls selling fantastically smelly cheeses oozing their way off the counter, cured meats, woodwork, jewellery and antique treasures. I made a beeline for the Dutch apple doughnut stand, guided there by the aroma of cinnamon and strong coffee.

I also made a pit stop at Kerstiens homemade chocolate stand. Marcel van Arendonk, who brings the chocolates from his family-run shop in town, does a roaring trade. His success is as much to do with his sunny disposition as his fabulous chocolates.

Sated, I was reminded that we had to take in a few vineyards before my appointment at a local spa.

On the way we stopped off at artist Anna Leary's home and studio overlooking the busy Nelson Port. Leary is one of several artists who open their homes to art lovers by appointment. Leary put the jug on and we sat and chewed the fat about her work for half an hour over a cuppa. Inviting people into her home to see how and where she makes her work gives them a deeper understanding of the art, she says.

Up the road in Appleby is the Seifried Estate. The Seifried family have been making wines here since 1976. When Hermann and Agnes Seifried started, they would graft the vines late into the night, while still working their day jobs. Today, all three of their children have come home to play their part in growing the family business. Our tasting included sampling the Barrique Fermented Chardonnay 2005 – a chardonnay so big it could knock you down.

A few minutes' drive away we stopped at the Waimea Estate. Here we did a tasting outdoors, practically in the vines. The late winter sun was as warm as toast.

By early afternoon I was nicely giddy for my facial and mud wrap at Enriching Day Spa in The Wood, Nelson. Lotions and potions were applied for the next hour as I breathed chardonnay over Sue, the softly spoken facialist. The mud wrap was a messy business but being cocooned, or swaddled as Sue put it, was a weirdly nice experience.

The spa is run by Katie Thurston and Warren Hoy. They are part of a "wellness cluster" in Nelson which brings together businesses that deal with health and well being.

Time passes quickly in Nelson. That's always the way when you're having a good time with an old mate. And I console myself as we take off, bound for Wellington, that it's only a half-hour flight back to the sun where I will exhale once again.