Exploring Marlborough
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Passionate people
A chance meeting in the middle of Marlborough’s natural beauty has seen two woman set up a company based on just that and the gourmet products grown and produced in the region.
Karen Walshe, who is originally from Auckland, shifted to Marlborough to work as marketing manager for a Blenheim wine company. Charlotte Patterson was an accountant who moved to Marlborough from Christchurch 17 years ago. Both women say they were looking to do something else with their lives and a chance meeting while walking the Queen Charlotte Track led to a working partnership.
This was four years ago and the start of Explore Marlborough.
“I ran into Karen at the top of a hill, we got talking, then `Let’s do it’,” Charlotte says.
“We could just see an opportunity; we wanted to do something other people weren’t doing,” adds Karen.
“Personal tours that explore the essence of Marlborough” is a promotional line on an Explore Marlborough brochure. Ways to explore it have been designed to suit participants’ time constraints, interests and fitness or energy levels. Bike the Vines, Taste of Marlborough, Heart of Marlborough and Lazy Sunday are among the options.
Karen initially thought about running wine tours, then Charlotte suggested that including locally produced foods would help set them apart.
“The wine industry is wonderful for Marlborough, but we try to showcase other things, too.”
“Where there’s good wine, there’s good food,” Karen agrees. Marlborough’s gourmet foods include hand-crafted cheeses, olive oil, asparagus, blueberries, plums, cherries, pine nuts, figs and garlic.
Tours are limited to between two and eight participants and if two separate couples book the same tour on the same day, two guides will be found so they can be taken independently.
Overseas tourists make up the bulk of Explore Marlborough customers, who love the chance to meet local people and visit the sites they work, creating products which win national and international awards.
Charlotte and Karen are grateful for the businesses that allow Explore Marlborough to include them on their tours.
Locations included on the Explore Marlborough by Bike tours are on quiet country roads. All locations have good stories that can be told.
They range from Auntsfield Estate, the first property to be planted with grape vines in Marlborough, to Seresin Estate which follows biodiversity practices to make its wine.
“And we tell the sustainable wine-growing story,” says Karen. “We’re aiming to paint the best picture of Marlborough that we can.
“We get good feedback from our tours. Some people don’t know what to expect, then they’re blown away by the beauty of Marlborough.”
Visit exploremarlborough.co.nz.
– The Marlborough Express
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