Farm tours open gate to new opportunities
For Fiona McQuade, Geraldine Farm Tours began with a simple observation.
Tourists were driving past the top of the road, Beauly Farm had a shearing shed and established farm infrastructure sitting underused, and there was a chance to create something new without losing the heart of the place.
“I just thought, why would we not do that?” McQuade says.
Today, Geraldine Farm Tours welcomes around 95 groups a year to Beauly Farm, a 27-acre property on the outskirts of Woodbury Village, six kilometres from Geraldine.
The business brings together a working sheep farm experience, an on-site farm store and a one-bedroom Airbnb cottage, with McQuade now looking at how the three can work more closely together.
But at its heart, she says, Beauly Farm is still very much a working farm.
“What keeps me awake at night is not the farm tours or the cottage. It is the stock out there relying on me for their wellbeing.”
McQuade bought Beauly Farm in 2012 with her then husband. The property had once been part of a larger farm before previous owners established the homestead, gardens and farm infrastructure, including the shearing shed, cattle yards and sheep yards.
The homestead burnt down in 2003 and was rebuilt on the same footprint. During the rebuild, a small one-bedroom cottage was added for the owners to live in. That cottage is now part of McQuade’s accommodation offering.
The property’s extensive English-style gardens are another defining part of Beauly Farm.
“They are large, but they are also my happy place,” McQuade says.
“I call them my therapy. It is where I go to sort things out in my mind and make things right with the world.”
McQuade grew up with farming in her blood. She was born in Geraldine and her parents farmed at Rangitata Island before moving to the King Country, where they farmed between Te Kūiti and the Waitomo Caves.
Later, the family moved to Tauranga, where her parents bought an orchard and her father invested in a dairy farm.
After school, McQuade studied classical studies at Otago University before moving into corporate planning, strategic planning and contract negotiation. In London, she worked for BP International, negotiating large outsourcing deals for its digital business division.
“It was one of those jobs I could never have articulated at university,” she says.
“But when I fell into it, I loved it.”
A return to Geraldine came after she and her then husband came home to New Zealand for Christmas and started thinking about where they wanted to raise their family.
They had planned to travel around New Zealand before deciding where to settle, but Geraldine won them over.
“It felt like a really amazing place to bring up children, with good schooling options close by and Christchurch International Airport within reach.”
The farm tours came later, in 2017.
At the time, friends down the road had a deer farm, and McQuade could see a gap in the local visitor market.
“There were a lot of tourists driving past the top of the road and we weren’t accessing that market.”
The original concept was a combined sheep and deer farm experience. McQuade and her friend even attended a Chinese tourism conference in Dunedin, thinking that might be where the market would come from.
In reality, most guests have come from Europe and North America.
“The Chinese market never really eventuated in that way,” she says.
“The majority of our guests have always been Europeans or Americans.”
For McQuade, diversification was not just about trying something new. It was about making the property financially sustainable.
“One of the big drivers was that the place needed to wash its own face”.
“Lifestyle blocks generally don’t. We were trading sheep and had grown a seed crop for South Pacific Seeds, which wasn’t too bad, but it still wasn’t enough.”
Farm tours offered a way to use what was already there.
“We didn’t need to spend a huge amount of money. We already had the infrastructure.”
The Airbnb cottage began around the same time. It had originally been rented out long term, but McQuade could see more potential in short-term accommodation.
Then Covid arrived.
Just before the pandemic, Geraldine Farm Tours was starting to gain real momentum. A large North American series had booked around 70 groups a year, bringing more than 1000 people through the farm.
Then international tourism stopped almost overnight.
“There was really nothing for nearly two years.”
When borders reopened, McQuade was not sure whether she would continue with the tours. But larger groups began making contact again, keen to return once they could.
By then, life had changed personally too.. Rather than stepping back, McQuade saw an opportunity to reshape Geraldine Farm Tours and build on its potential.
The farm itself has also changed to support the visitor experience.
McQuade now tends to trade stock rather than run a more traditional breeding operation. This winter was the first on Beauly Farm where there was no need for break feeding, very little feeding out and no lambing beat.
She buys healthy lambs from a neighbouring farmer for bottle feeding in spring. Those lambs are then carried through and become quiet, hand-fed sheep for future visitors.
“We shear two sheep at a time for the visitors, so the farm has to work around the visitor experience as well as the livestock.”
A typical tour begins with a welcome, often including a mihi by McQuade[FM1] , particularly as Beauly Farm is the first stop in New Zealand for many visitors.
After introductions and a health and safety briefing, guests feed spring lambs, weaned lambs or sheep, depending on the season.
They learn about the different types of dogs used in New Zealand farming before watching a heading dog demonstration. In the yards, they also see a huntaway at work.
The tour then moves into the shearing shed, where visitors see both machine and blade shearing. McQuade talks about wool, the different types produced in New Zealand, and what they are used for.
Depending on the group, guests either have morning or afternoon tea on the farm, or lunch at a local cafe featuring New Zealand lamb, salmon and pavlova.
For McQuade, the value of the tours is not just in giving visitors something memorable to do. It is also about helping them better understand New Zealand farming.
One early experience has stayed with her.
A German visitor, who was vegetarian, asked very direct questions about what happened when animals went to the works. She wanted to know how they were loaded, where they went, and what the process looked like.
McQuade remembers wondering how the conversation might end.
“At the end, she said she had loved the tour and that if she had known this was how meat was raised, she would eat it.”
McQuade says it was a powerful reminder of the role farm tourism can play.
“That was a massive compliment.
“It showed me how important it is for people to see and understand the way New Zealand farmers care for their animals. It is something I believe all New Zealand farmers should be proud of.”
While McQuade did not have a tourism or hospitality background before starting the business, she says being a people person has helped.
“I enjoy engaging with guests, and they always have great questions.
“As Kiwis, we travel so much ourselves that when we are on the other side of it, welcoming international visitors here, we understand what that means.”
The experience has also helped her see the farm through fresh eyes.
“It is wonderful being able to welcome people into something that we might think of as quite ordinary, but to them feels extraordinary.”
More recently, McQuade has added The Caboose Farm Store, a small retail space on the property.
The idea came from an annual team discussion where McQuade brings everyone together over dinner and drinks to talk about what went well, what could be improved, and what opportunities might be ahead.
Visitors were often asking whether they could buy wool, a cap, or merino products.
A small building on the property, originally an old rabbitters hut, had been beautifully renovated by a local woman before McQuade bought it and relocated it to Beauly Farm. It had previously been her workshop when she ran her own clothing label, Ministry Clothing.
This season, it was converted into The Caboose Farm Store.
“We kept it small to begin with, stocking some merino, Untouched World, Norsewear, Swanndri and NZ made lanolin products.
“It went really well and has become another income stream within the farm tour business.”
McQuade has thought about garden tours, but for now she wants to keep some parts of Beauly Farm private.
“This is still my home.”
What interests her more is collaboration with other local businesses and finding ways Geraldine Farm Tours can support the wider South Canterbury tourism scene.
Local businesses have already approached her about possible collaborations, including food and drink experiences, Highland cattle and alpacas.
“That could be the next step, looking at what opportunities there are off-farm and how we can work together to support the wider community.”
Social media has also become part of the business, even if it has not always come naturally.
“I don’t love doing it, but it has hands down created more visibility for the business.
“It has helped with traction, interest and visibility, both locally and globally. It is instant, and I have learned to get into more of a rhythm with it.”
Her children, aged 17 to 24, help where they can, even if they find some of it a bit cringe.
“I just have to embrace it, because it is part of keeping the farm running and growing the business.”
Looking ahead, McQuade would like to create more connection between the farm tours, the store and the cottage.
At the moment, the Airbnb cottage is busy from November through to March or April, but relatively few guests book a farm tour.
McQuade would like to change that.
“I would like to position Beauly Farm Cottage as an accommodation option for people who want to come on a farm tour.
“I think there is more opportunity to create a stronger connection between the accommodation and the farm experience.”
Running the business has involved plenty of learning, particularly on the farming side.
McQuade may have grown up on farms, but managing livestock herself has been a different challenge.
“I was brought up on farms, but there was still so much I had to learn.
“I have had to learn how to manage livestock, how to trade them, and how to work the farm so everything fits together.”
She laughs that she still does not know how to drive the tractor, but now calls herself a “land girl”.
“When people ask me what I do, I sometimes say I jump out of utes and tackle fly-blown sheep to the ground so I can treat them.
“That is the part that has been the real challenge and the real learning.”
Behind the business is a wider team McQuade is quick to acknowledge.
Her neighbour manages retail and a lot of the administration. She has two co-hosts, two shearers, someone to help maintain the property and is about to bring another person on. The Woodbury Store Cafe team provides lunches and catering.
“I couldn’t have done any of this without an amazing team behind me.
“It is not just about me, and it is not even just about Geraldine Farm Tours. It is about the broader outcomes and benefits for Geraldine and South Canterbury.”
That, she says, is what excites her most.
“I work with other local businesses, and I want the business to help create opportunities beyond the farm gate.”
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