Lavender Hill Farm Shop sits on Beacon Road in Riverhead, Rodney, north-west of Auckland, and holds a 5.0 rating from 53 Google reviews. Visitors book tours of the farm and distillery, meet the alpacas and sheep, and finish with a gin tasting, with hosts regularly praised for their warmth.
The best farm shops are working properties first — you taste and buy what the land actually produces, and the shelves change with the seasons. It pays to ask what is grown or distilled on site rather than bought in, and to time a visit around the crop, since lavender, like anything else, has its flowering weeks. Animals, picnic spots and tastings often turn a quick shop stop into a proper afternoon out, which is why families and day-trippers seek them out.
With blooming fields, a distillery and views towards the Waitakere Ranges, Lavender Hill makes an easy half-day trip from central Auckland.