A Country Market Scene

Oxford Farmers' Market

A North Canterbury Rural Scene

With Pretzels

February 2010. Ajr

Have Bike, Will Travel

A Relaxed Sunday Scene

Oxford Village

North Canterbury

February 2010. Ajr

Provincial New Zealand - Architectural Style

Cust Museum- in the formerWaimakariri-Ashley Water Supply Board building.

You don't have to drive far in New Zealand to find a small town filled with a crazy assortment of buildings - public and private alike. Last weekend I was out in Oxford, about 40 minutes north of Christchurch. That's a small town that has changed significantly over the last five years. An Oxford gift store & bookshop - in the old Salvation Army Church Building. Circa 1930-1940 Originally a saw-milling town, then a rural service town, Oxford is now being billed as "a destination, a quaint village with an English atmosphere." I put that down to slightly hysterical marketing hype myself, because frankly, you don't get 'English village atmosphere' simply by virtue of sharing the name of one of England's most iconic villages. It doesn't feel at all English to me. It feels iconically Kiwi provincial. I don't know why people want to sweep that under the carpet and pretend to be English. Private Residence. Oxford. Probably 1940-50s with 1970s conifer plantings. All that aside, I do like like Oxford, Canterbury, New Zealand (and nearby Cust). It really does have a glorious assortment of buildings that shine a light on different architectural styles across the decades. And I love the way buildings morph and change use over time - the old church building that is now a busy gift store; the old villa that is now a popular cafe; an old council building converted into a tiny museum. It says so much about the industriousness of country people and their ability to turn just about anything to good use.

Old villa, possibly early 1900s; now a cafe

Fernside Memorial Hall and Community Centre at Fernside. There is no denying that the first European settlers in New Zealand were English (and Scottish) predominantly but come on people, that was over 150 years ago. It's lovely that we have clues to that in some of our early architecture but all these decades on, surely it's time to claim these small places with their quirky buildings as quintessentially New Zealand - not some so-called 'quaint English or French (Akaroa) outpost.' I find that sort of regional marketing embarassingly twee. It makes me want to stand up and scream "NEW ZEALAND - This is provincial New Zealand. Enjoy it and be proud of it for what it is. Don't try to make it something foreign." www.oxfordnewzealand.co.nz

A New Gallery

I walked right by this new art gallery in small-town Oxford in North Canterbury last weekend. I'm seldom lured into brand-new psuedo-colonial style buildings in little country towns; they usually house some awful retail atrocity that I'd rather not subject myself to. But my friend went in on our second passing, so I followed her in. It actually turned out to be rather a nice exhibition space - though I could happily have worn blinders against most of the art on display. Turns out that this is stage one in a large development - Arts in Oxford - which will grow to include a large area of workshops at the rear in stage two. It's supported by the Canterbry Community Trust, The Keith Laugesen Charitable Trust, the Waimakariri District Council and the Waimakariri Community Arts Council; and in the rapidly growing and propserous little town of Oxford, it's bound to serve a useful purpose. www.oxfordnewzealand.co.nz

A Day at the Market

A friend and I drove out to the little North Canterbury village of Oxford today. It sits about 45 minutes northwest of Christchurch and has become a favourite destination for many. Much of this was triggered by the arrival of well known New Zealand foodie, Jo Seagar, who shifted south from Auckland and set up a cafe, cooking school and kitchen shop about three years ago. Since then, the village has blossomed and numerous new businesses have opened. There's also the Oxford Farmers' Market, which is held every Sunday from 9am.

There weren't as many farmers' market stalls as I expected, but the quality of product on most was excellent and as locals and visitors alike, gathered to pick over the best, I was in photographic heaven. The German baker had a queue a mile long - especially for delicacies like his baked cherry quark cheesecake (which, may I add, makes for a tasty, indulgent breakfast); likewise the Dutch bakers, who delighted the crowds with custard-cream filled bee stings.....amazing flat cakes dusted in a shower of icing sugar, which do have an enormous Dutch name but appear to have somehow adopted this strange name, bee stings.

After the market, we wandered into the old town hall - an architectural treat in its own right (I'll feature some of the unique village buildings in another post), where the local women were staging the monthly craft market. It was like stepping back into the 1950s and as much as I yearned to take photographs, it somehow didn't seem appropriate. There's no getting away from the fact that it was a mixed bag - everything from skin-creepingly ugly crocheted toilet roll holders, to exquisite hand-knitted baby cklothes and soft toys selling for ridiculously cheap prices. There was even a good old-fashioned cake stall, run by a little grey-haired lady who took a very particular pride in her baked goods. I was tempted to ask her what she thought of all the fancy foreign baked goods at the next door Farmers' Market but I didn't - and now of course, I wish I had. Another time perhaps. www.oxfordnewzealand.co.nz

Give a Gnome a Home

I LOVE the eccentricity of small-town New Zealand and as a former North Islander, I think I can safely say that the further south you go, the stranger it gets. And I say that without malice; rather with a sense of awe and sometimes incomprehension and an overwhelming desire to actually meet and talk with the people responsible. I felt that today in the small, North Canterbury town of Oxford, when I came across this little house in the main street, that has obviously become a resting place for the unloved concrete garden ornaments of the world. The small front garden was swollen with activity as gnomes cuddled together under geraniums; kiwi chatted with pukeko; and lounging cats gazed longingly at singing frogs and sun-baking turtles. I would have loved to have knocked on the door to find out more - the journalist in me couldn't help but think of the possible stories behind it all - but I resisted the urge in favour of moving on to the next photographic hot-spot....and there were certainly plenty of those (for me anyway) in Oxford.

When Days Were Sunnier

Canterbury Plains near Oxford. 2008. Ajr

The last twenty-four hours have been so cold and icy and wet and filled with hail, rain and wind that I prefer to think of warmer times. So here's a blue-skied day from the Canterbury Plains - a dairy farm photographed near Oxford, about 40 minutes from Christchurch.