Sprig + Fern Marsden is the tenth Sprig + Fern tavern in the Nelson-Tasman region, purpose-built at 2 Homestead Avenue in the Marsden Valley on Stoke's southern edge. With the Barnicoat Range at its rear and native birdsong all around, it is a venue made for kicking back — quality company, award-winning beer, and a setting that feels a world away.
Inside, the bar runs nineteen taps pouring Sprig + Fern favourites: the brewery's award-winning craft beers alongside its ciders and the Grown Up Range of hard sodas. A carefully formed wine menu sits alongside the taps, and takeaway rigger sales mean you can take your pick home.
The kitchen serves a range of delicious, locally sourced food — bar snacks, pizzas and more. Indoors you'll find a mixture of open spaces and cosy nooks, while an expansive, sunny outdoor area invites long afternoons of good conversation and good times.
Your hosts Ingrid, Vince, Drew and Amy run the tavern day to day, keeping it true to the Sprig + Fern promise of properly poured beer and an easy, welcoming local.
Sprig + Fern Marsden sits at 2 Homestead Avenue in the Marsden Valley, on the southern edge of Stoke, with the Barnicoat Range at its rear and native birdsong all around. It is a strikingly peaceful setting for a tavern — more valley lookout than street corner — and exactly the backdrop the Sprig + Fern team had in mind when they created their tenth tavern for the Nelson-Tasman region.
Marsden was designed from the ground up as a Sprig + Fern Tavern, which means all the best bits of the Sprig + Fern experience are built in: award-winning beer poured properly, honest food, and a space made for settling in with good company. It joins a family of taverns stretching across Nelson, Tasman and Wellington, but with its purpose-built layout and valley views it feels very much its own place.
The centrepiece of the bar is the tap line-up: nineteen taps pouring Sprig + Fern favourites — the brewery's award-winning craft beers alongside its ciders and the Grown Up Range of hard sodas. With that much on, there is something at the rail for every taste, and the team can point you toward the right pour. Not a beer drinker? The bar keeps a carefully formed wine menu alongside the taps.
Keen to keep it going at home? Takeaway rigger sales are available, so you can fill up on whatever is pouring and carry a taste of the valley back with you.
The food follows the same philosophy as the beer: keep it honest and keep it local. The menu brings together bar snacks, pizzas and more, made from locally sourced ingredients and built to satisfy your appetite without stealing focus from the conversation. It is pub food in the best sense — the kind you order in rounds across an afternoon and only fully appreciate when the plates are empty.
The building does a lot of the work too. Indoors, Marsden mixes open spaces with cosy nooks, so a big group can spread out while a couple tucks into a quiet corner. Outdoors, an expansive, sunny area catches the valley light, and with the Barnicoat Range behind you and birdsong for a soundtrack, it is the sort of spot where one drink quietly becomes three.
Day to day, the tavern is in the hands of hosts Ingrid, Vince, Drew and Amy — the team you will find behind the bar and a big part of why the place feels like a proper local. Behind them stands the wider Sprig + Fern story: a Nelson-Tasman brewery based at 53 Beach Road in Richmond, whose beers pour across its family of taverns and have picked up awards along the way.
If a visit leaves you wanting more, the brewery's range — core beers, ciders, hard sodas, limited releases and mixed packs — is also available to order online, with free urban shipping on orders over $90.
Sprig + Fern Marsden opens Tuesday to Friday from 2pm until late, and from midday on Saturday and Sunday. You will find it at 2 Homestead Avenue, Marsden Valley, Stoke 7011, and can call the team on 03 927 5049. Booking enquiries go through the contact form on the Sprig + Fern website — it is not an instant booking system, so leave your details and one of the team will get back to you. It pays to check the current opening hours before requesting a time.
Whether you come for the nineteen taps, the pizzas, the wine list or simply a sunny patch of outdoor seating under the valley sky, Sprig + Fern Marsden delivers the same promise as its siblings: quality company, award-winning beer and an afternoon that stretches the way afternoons should.