| In 1864, Cobb & Co. were running coaches between Christchurch and Timaru, and Turton's Accomodation House provided for all the travellers' needs, as well as supplying guides and ferries to cross the treacherous Ashburton riverbed. Bishop Selwyn described the area at the time as a desert, a dry and gravelly plain of tussock and wind-swept sand. Today, with extensive irrigation schemes in place, the district is one of the most fertile in the country. The town itself is the commercial, industrial, agricultural and market center for the surrounding plains of mid-Canterbury. |
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Meet Nancy, who raised the sheep, spun the wool and knited the sweater I bought
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The Spinners
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Mushrooms on the grounds of the Hotel Ashburton
