Avebury Park is an English-style garden park at 9 Eveleyn Couzins Avenue in Richmond, Christchurch, built around a Victorian homestead. The house, Avebury House, was built in 1885 for the Flesher family, and it is now a heritage venue and community hub run by the Avebury House Community Trust. The grounds have expansive lawns, large deciduous trees, a playground and a paddling pool.
The 1885 Homestead is the main draw for visitors who want to see the history. The two-storey house can be hired as a whole, or by individual room, for events and celebrations. The Richmond Room on the first floor is open daily and shares the local history of the suburb. The house was refurbished by the Christchurch City Council in 1999 and reopened in 2002 as a community venue, so its rooms have both heritage character and a modern use.
Families come for the playground and the historic paddling pool, which are popular with children on warm days. The gardens are a good place for a walk or a picnic on the lawns. A community garden on former red zone land next to the park grows vegetables and fruit for local people. Classes in yoga and pilates use the park's spaces as well.
Visitors say the park is a lovely place to spend a relaxed afternoon, and they rate it highly for its calm setting and its history.
The Richmond Room is open on the first floor, and the park's opening hours are Monday to Friday from 9am to 1pm.
Our pick in Richmond for a walk on the lawns and a look round the 1885 homestead.
Avebury House sits at the heart of Avebury Park in Richmond, Christchurch — a two-storey Victorian homestead framed by English-style gardens, expansive lawns and large deciduous trees. Built in 1885 as the Flesher family home, it has spent far more of its life serving the public than serving as a private residence. Today, managed by the Avebury House Community Trust, it is a venue for workshops, events and special celebrations, and a warm, welcoming hub for the community groups and classes that keep this corner of Christchurch buzzing.
The story begins in 1852, when Dr John Seager Gundry, an early Christchurch doctor, bought 50 acres from the Canterbury Association and named the property Avebury after his hometown in Wiltshire, England. William Flesher purchased 25 acres of that land in 1871, and in 1885 commissioned James Glanville to design a large two-storey family home. The house remained the Flesher family home for the next 60 years, its entrance hall leading to drawing and dining rooms much as it does today.
William's son James — a lawyer who served as Mayor of Christchurch from 1923 to 1925 — left his own mark. In 1907 he had the north facade transformed into something larger and more decorative, adding a tower to the northwest corner, bay windows, a first-floor balcony and an ornamental gable over the main entrance. Flesher Avenue nearby carries his name.
After Hubert Flesher sold the house and eight acres to the Crown in 1945, ownership passed to the Christchurch City Council in 1951. The grounds were developed as the public park now formally titled Avebury Park, complete with a paddling pool built south of the house in 1954, and for a time the Plunket Society made use of the rooms.
By the 1960s the house was in poor repair and even demolition was on the table. The Youth Hostel Association stepped in with a rescue plan, and in 1966 the Cora Wilding Youth Hostel — named for a founder of the New Zealand youth hostel movement — opened after countless hours of volunteer work. It welcomed travellers for three decades until the lease expired in 1997.
When demolition calls returned in 1999, the Richmond community, the Hagley-Ferrymead Community Board and supportive city councillors argued for re-use as a community facility instead. The Avebury House Community Trust was formed in 2001 to administer the house on the community's behalf, and Prime Minister Helen Clark officially reopened it on 18 September 2002.
The house sustained moderate damage in the 2010–11 Canterbury earthquakes, but restoration work — foundation repairs, sub-floor strengthening and additional bracing — brought it up to 100% of the New Building Standard before it reopened in September 2013. In 2019, Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga classed Avebury House as a Category 2 historic place.
Avebury House can be hired for the day or part thereof — the whole house, or as many individual rooms as your workshop, meeting or celebration requires. The Richmond Room on the first floor is open daily for visitors, housing an eclectic collection of items and information about the house and the wider Richmond area. Downstairs, the Gordon Prince Room displays taonga from the former Richmond School, including its honours board and a World War 1 roll of honour listing 325 pupils and staff who served.
Regular yoga and pilates classes run at the house, with the schedule available on the website, alongside groups such as the Richmond History Group. Through the year the grounds come alive for much-loved local events: the Spring Fair, the Richmond Gala, Matariki in the Zone, the Avebury Xmas Market and the family-friendly Teddy Bears Picnic.
The park itself is a destination. Children wear out the popular playground and paddling pool, and an active group of locals has developed a wonderful community garden on former red-zone land adjoining Avebury Park — well worth a visit in its own right.
Whether you are planning an event, curious about local history or simply after a leafy stroll among heritage gardens, Avebury House makes an easy, inviting stop. The office is open Monday to Friday, 9am to 1pm, and enquiries can be made by phone, email or through the contact form on the website.