By 3 News online staff
Organisers of the NZ House & Garden Tours are hoping to raise more than $200,000 for two New Zealand charities.
The tours are of 50 private homes and gardens around the country next month to fundraise for the Cancer Society of New Zealand and women’s cancer charity Look Good Feel Better.
We have four double passes to the NZ House & Garden Tours and four NZ House & Garden magazine subscriptions to give away to lucky 3news.co.nz readers. Competition closes midday, February 24 and winners will be contacted by phone.
Eco-architect Fritz Eisenhofer and his wife Helen are inviting the public into their Kapiti Coast home for the first time in support of the charities.
Mrs Eisenhofer said they were initially overwhelmed by the idea, but agreed after talking to a homeowner who had featured in a previous tour.
“It is for such a great cause, so we said yes.”
The couple will open both their recently finished eco-dwelling and their 20-year-old dome house to the public.
Other homes in the Tours include an ex-convent in Arrowtown, the home of Millbrook’s Japanese owner Eiichi Iishi, and a park created by Janet Blair near Lake Hayes.
Tours are in Canterbury on March 2, Auckland on March 9, Kapiti Coast on March 16 and Queenstown Lakes on March 24.
NZ House and Garden editor Sally Duggan is grateful to the homeowners taking part.
“It’s no small thing to ask people to open their homes to hundreds of house guests in each region. Without them and the many volunteers who make the tours run smoothly we wouldn’t be able to see such a great result for the charities.”
In the past the tours have raised more than $600,000 for the two charities. The proceeds are allocated to the local divisions of the charities according to where ticket purchasers live.
Tickets are available for $58 from the Ticketmaster website or by phone 0800 111 999.
3 News