Last updated October 2026
Wither Hills is the southern hill-country suburb of Blenheim, the open land that rises off the flat Wairau Plain and closes the town to the south. Most of what people mean by the name is Wither Hills Farm Park, a Marlborough District Council reserve of rolling to steep hill country run as a working farm and a soil conservation area.
The hills are a recognised high amenity landscape, mostly free of buildings, with clear ridges and a dry golden colour that shows from across Blenheim (Waiharakeke).
Council entrances are on the southern side of town, at Rifle Range Place, Forest Park Drive, Weld Street and Redwood Street. The park is used for walking, running and mountain biking, but it remains farmland, and summer fire risk can make midday entry a poor idea.
Practical Information
- Getting there
- From southern Blenheim via Rifle Range Place, Forest Park Drive, Weld Street and Redwood Street, the council’s published farm park entrances. No bus route serving the hills was confirmed.
- Nearby landmarks
- Wither Hills Farm Park; Mt Vernon; Quail Stream; Harling Park, on the northern edge of the farm park
About Wither Hills
Summer fire risk is a standing caution, not a side note. Marlborough District Council says the farm park often has a high fire risk in summer, and that entry between 9 am and 5 pm is frequently not recommended.
Read the fire signs at the gates before you walk in, and treat any closure or restriction notice as applying to the whole reserve.
The suburb is not a conventional housing neighbourhood. Council landscape notes describe the hills as mostly free of buildings, with clear ridges and spurs. The land reads as open farm country above town: dry grass, planted gullies, farm tracks and a working operation with stock.
Anyone picturing a street of houses with a park at the end of the road should look to the built-up southern side of Blenheim instead. Wither Hills is the backdrop those streets look up to.
The farm park is named after Charles Bigg Wither, an early landowner. Council records the original purchase of land on the hills in 1944, made to deal with soil conservation problems that threatened the town below.
Work by the former Marlborough Catchment Board, the former Blenheim Borough Council and, later, Marlborough District Council has gone into stabilising the slopes. Soil conservation is still the primary purpose of the reserve. Recreation, native habitat work, landscape protection and fire management sit alongside that job, not instead of it.
The council places the hills in the Wither Hills Ecological District: eastern hill country between the Wairau Plain and the Awatere Valley, running out to the coast at Te Parinui o Whiti (the Vernon Bluffs).
A long history of pastoral farming is part of the area’s heritage. Since 1985, tree planting in the valley systems has been an almost annual job, with Blenheim school children taking part.
A 40 hectare area of dryland forest in Sutherland Stream was protected by a QEII covenant in 1995. Much of the revegetation there was lost in a fire in 2000, and a recovery programme of monitoring and ecosourced planting followed. A landscape planting plan for the farm park was approved in 2005.
For a visitor, the experience is rural rather than urban. The council facility listing describes more than 1,100 hectares of hill country and more than 60 kilometres of walking tracks and mountain bike trails.
The management plan is more specific: 19 kilometres of walking tracks, 26 kilometres of mountain bike trails, and 25 kilometres of shared-use tracks, farm roads and routes.
Toilets sit at the Rifle Range car park and at the Quail Stream car park on Forest Park Drive, with a further toilet on the upper Quail Stream track for people on foot. Expect farm gates, stock, and signs. The hills are public land with a working-farm overlay.
Getting There and On the Ground
The practical way in is from the southern streets of Blenheim. Marlborough District Council lists access from Rifle Range Place, Forest Park Drive, Weld Street and Redwood Street.
Information signs at the Quail Stream and Redwood Street entrances carry track maps and farm park rules. Car parks at Rifle Range and Quail Stream are the usual start points for a short visit.
There is no confirmed bus stop on the hills themselves. Most people drive to an entrance or walk up from the southern edge of town. Once inside, movement is on farm tracks and marked routes, not footpaths beside houses.
Junctions on the published Mt Vernon loops are signposted. This is hill country with steep-sided gullies, so a town-flat idea of distance does not transfer well to the ridges.
Outdoors on the Farm Park
The standout trip for many locals is the ridge at Mt Vernon. Council loop notes describe routes from the Redwood Street car park and the Quail Stream car park that climb steep gullies to the main southern ridge, then drop an open spur from Mt Vernon.
On a clear day the view runs over Blenheim to Cloudy Bay and the Wairau Lagoons, northwest to the Richmond Range and the Wairau Valley, and across Cook Strait to Wellington’s south coast. Toilets and drinking fountains are placed for those loops.
Quail Stream is the other name to know. Upper and Lower Quail Stream tracks are walking only, as are Sutherland Stream Track and Lower Farm Track. Mt Vernon Track and Split Apple Peak Track are shared with bikes.
The point is not to collect every named track. It is that the same hills carry both quiet walking valleys and shared bike routes, and the signs at each junction say which is which.
Because this is a working farm, give stock room, leave gates as you find them, and do not treat a farm race as a shortcut past a warning sign.
How the Hills Were Stabilised
The 1944 land purchase was a flood and erosion response, not a parks project. Unstable hill country above Blenheim was a direct risk to the town. Decades of soil conservation work, including tree planting in the gullies, turned the slopes into a managed reserve that still operates as a farm.
The management plan is clear that soil conservation remains the main purpose, with habitat restoration, recreation, cultural heritage protection, landscape protection and pest control as further outcomes. Fire management is treated as essential to both soil conservation and public safety.
That history explains why the hills look the way they do. The golden open ridges are a farmed landscape, not untouched bush, and the planted valleys are a conservation tool as much as scenery.
The Marlborough Environment Plan recognises the area as a High Amenity Landscape even though it is heavily modified. For people who live in Blenheim, the suburb is less a place of shops and schools than the landform that defines the southern skyline.
Where to Learn More
Marlborough District Council: Wither Hills Farm Park: entrances, toilets, the working-farm warning, and the public description of the reserve.
Wither Hills Management Plan: the council plan for soil conservation, recreation, habitat and fire risk on the farm park.
Mt Vernon loop tracks: council notes on the Redwood Street and Quail Stream loops, facilities, and summer fire advice.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Wither Hills a built-up suburb?
No. It is a named suburb of Blenheim, but the land is mostly open hill country and the council farm park, not a grid of houses, shops and schools.
How do I get into Wither Hills Farm Park?
Use the council entrances at Rifle Range Place, Forest Park Drive, Weld Street or Redwood Street, on the southern side of Blenheim. Maps are posted at the Quail Stream and Redwood Street entrances.
Is there an entry fee?
The council facility page does not list an entry charge. You still need to follow farm, fire and track rules once you are inside.
Can I visit in summer?
Often, but not always at midday. The council says the farm park frequently has a high fire risk in summer, and that entry between 9 am and 5 pm is often not recommended. Check the signs on the day.
Are dogs allowed?
A blanket dog rule was not confirmed in the council pages used here. The published instruction is to respect stock and obey danger and fire signs. Check the entrance boards before you bring a dog.
Who were the hills named after?
The farm park is named after Charles Bigg Wither, an early landowner. The council purchase of land for soil conservation dates from 1944.
Are there schools or shops in Wither Hills?
None were confirmed inside the hill-country suburb. Schooling and everyday shopping for this side of town are in the built-up parts of Blenheim, not on the farm park.
What is the difference between Wither Hills and other southern names?
Wither Hills, Witherlea and Wither Rise are separately listed suburbs of Blenheim. Wither Hills is the open hill reserve and farm park. It is not the same place as the residential areas that carry similar names.
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