Back to Blog

Ridgeline Track CLOSED

Ridgeline Track CLOSED Tuesday 23rd - Friday 26th January, due to forestry thinning....

Lambing Season has begun!

Please do enjoy our lambs, but from a comfortable distance.They can easily get separated from their mothers if panicked and this can be very distressing for all. If given the space they need they'll be happy and sitting & watching them can be a real pleasure :)A great time to enjoy farm life!...

TRACK CLOSURES & UPDATES

This applies to all pedestrians & cyclists and is for your own safety. Thank you for your understanding....

WEATHER WARNING

Very strong winds are expected from this Sunday. Falling branches and tree fall is a serious risk. So if you're thinking about coming up to Summerhill, please assess the conditions first and consider rescheduling if conditions aren't favourable!Stay safe everybody, and stay up to date by visiting www.metservice.com ...

Trails closed for AIMS Games next week!

All trails will be closed on Tuesday 6th, Wednesday 7th, Thursday 8th, and potentially Friday 9th (if compromised by the weather) for the 2022 Zespri AIMS Games Sporting Championships Mountain Biking event. This event will be operating on both the Eastern and Western sides of the park with over 260 entrants from around New Zealand, along with a big official & volunteer team that we want to keep safe while running the event. The park will reopen Friday 9th unless we have to use it as a ...

Arbor Day 2022

Over 30 people came up to Summerhill to celebrate Arbor Day this year. Everyone worked together and we managed to get over 1200 plants in the ground in just over two hours! There was lots of friendly banter and laughs along the way, and a real sense of achievement at the end. A massive thank you to Trees That Count who donated all of the beautiful native trees and to everyone who so willingly gave up their Sunday for the cause! Our native plants & wildlife will be thriving throughout t...

Forest Harvest, January 2022

It’s harvest time at Summerhill, and that’s not fruit and vegies, but specialty timbers. This summer we’re felling and milling 2 beautiful timber species;  Eucalyptus regnans (Vic Ash or Mountain Ash) and Poplar. Eucalyptus regnans is one of the tallest trees in the world, and although our trees are only 40yrs old they are already close to 70m tall. The timber is strong and light in colour with occasional red gum streaks. It is used throughout NZ and Australia for flooring, inter...

Dirtcraft XC Grom Champs and Stumpies Enduro, Dec 2021

In early December Summerhill was pleased to host the DirtCraft XC Grom Champs and Stumpies Enduro. It's amazing how simply riding your bike with friends can positively impact your life and give you a reality check. Combining this with the fact we could see the youngsters getting stuck into it with facing fears, pushing themselves and watching their skill flourish is inspiring. It's the little things that add up to make a big difference. DirtCraft is proud to work with MTB Tauranga and we ai...

Planting with a Passion

In April this year, in partnership with the BOP Regional Council and Summerhill Charitable Trust, Thorne Group undertook a planting project on the Farm. This included the planting of a wetland area and surrounding pasture at Summerhill Farm & Recreational Park, adjacent to the Papamoa Hills Regional Park. The aim of the project was to plant native shrubs and trees for perpetuity, having multiple benefits of protecting the waterway, sequestering carbon and increasing native bushwalking areas.&nb...

Sharing History Through Hikoi

The panoramic views atop the Pāpāmoa Hills are breathtaking, but most people don’t realise the rich history that surrounds them and the rest of the region. One Tauranga man is making it his mahi to change this by doing guided hīkoi up the maunga and sharing stories of the region’s kōrero o mua (history and traditions). Les Millard has been hosting walks once a month since the start of the year, and The Weekend Sun was treated to one of our own. He walks the Pāpāmoa Hills two or three t...