Fodor's Expert Review Hathaway House

Editor's Note: This location is no longer in operation.

In a delightful 6-acre country and garden setting on the edge of Stratford township, this grand, 1896 double villa has an entire top floor devoted to guests. Of the four spacious double rooms, two have en suites and two share a stylish bathroom with polished wooden floors and clawfoot tub. Rooms offer different views—across rolling green farmland to Mt. Taranaki and down to the garden, featured in the annual Taranaki Fringe Garden Festival. Downstairs it's all about hospitality. A cooked breakfast is served on old English china by the open fire in the formal yet cozy dining room. In the evenings guests are welcome to relax on the leather settees in the family lounge with hosts Wayne and Judith and to share the famly dinner (NZ$50 for two courses and beverage). Hathaway has been in Wayne's family since the 1930s.