What are the opening hours?

Wednesday 9am - 3pm Thursday 9am - 3pm Friday 9am - 3pm Saturday 9am - 3pm Sunday 9am - 3pm

The Woolshed Cafe & Heritage Walk

Name: The Woolshed Cafe & Heritage Walk
Address: 2861 State Highway 1, Sanson, 4479, NZ
Telephone: +6463293295
Price range: $$

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The Woolshed Cafe & Heritage Walk

Maybe make a day of it with our 90 minute audio guided Heritage Walk, a trip down memory lane.

We are the Woolshed Cafe & Heritage Walk on SH1, Sanson,
Whether taking a break or catching up with friends, enjoy our spacious cafe and great Kiwi hospitality. The Woolshed Cafe is owned by Alan and Frances who bought the property in 2011. After farming in the Hawkes Bay for many years we decided to return home to Manawatu and try our hand at something new. We bought the Old Manor which had caught on fire in 2009 but soon sadly realized that the beautiful old building was too damaged to restore. On our trips home from Hawkes Bay we often passed an iconic black woolshed (on State Highway 50) we admired so much and that became the inspiration for the new cafe. Demolition of the Old Manor started in the summer of 2011, it was a slow process as we sought to re-cycle as much of the old building as possible and all the wooden floors, doors and tables in the new cafe have all been crafted from the re-cycled timber. The building of the Woolshed Cafe started at the end of March and was completed in September 2012. The Woolshed Cafe offers a relaxing spacious eating experience with friendly service. The different areas in the cafe enable us to cater for groups of different sizes and needs without compromise. So whether you are wanting to get out into the countryside for a relaxing breakfast or lunch, traveling past on your way somewhere else and need a breather or are planning a private function, the Woolshed Cafe is the place to go.

18/09/2026

Hello friends,

A bit of fun today.
What is this masterfully (?) built concrete pad heralding you may be asking. While others might use this as a teaser, we are running a competition, yes with a real prize.
Give us your best guess as to what will be going here and be in to win a voucher for lunch & coffee. Clue - It is located about half way around the Heritage Walk, and is 1.3 x 1.0 meter.
One guess per person, first correct answer wins,
Good luck!

15/09/2026

Hello friends,

Those of you with a discerning eye will notice something wrong with this photo, something missing........Yes not for the first time we have no lambs! Way into spring and just a collection of slightly obese ewes, not sure what happened, there was a ram, at least he said he was a ram.
Contemplating introducing a new one now, would mean late January lambs which wouldn't matter as we always have feed, not sure, happy to take any suggestions.
Cheers

11/09/2026

Hello friends,

Steady spring week for us here in Manawatu, getting a few diners outside as the days warm up but the breeze is keeping most inside.
The Slab Hut is mostly completed, porch and chimney done, and some additional planting to go with the native borders we planted a few years back. We are starting to get a lot of self seeded natives pop up on the block here, especially Flax and Cabbage Trees, so they are perfect for an 1840 plot.
Enjoy your weekend!

09/09/2026

Hello friends,

Bit of a gloomy one here today after a beautiful day yesterday and over 50mm of rain on Tuesday, the most we've had in a 24 hour period this year.
Busy week for us with Rongotea lions dropping in tomorrow night for their monthly meal and meeting, thank you to those folk who do alot for the community.
We also have a new kid in town, yes a brand new option for zero sugar customers, "Solo", check it out next time you're in.
Cheers to that.

01/09/2026

Hello friends,

ICYMI.............It's Springtime!

27/08/2026

Hello friends,

Counting out Winter here in Manawatu with a fair bit of planting going on. We've had our best results with Native tree planting in late August here, so another 60 have gone in courtesy of Terry @ Native Plant Nursery . He has plenty of stock right now and his pricing is more than reasonable.
That said the Slab hut has taken a back seat, although the Chimney is now complete and porch getting close. Original chimneys would have been made entirely of wood and were notorious for catching fire, as iron became available it was used but the framing was still wooden so care needed to be taken😟
Have a great week!

19/08/2026

Hello friends,

Slab hut update #1007, main building is now complete and adding the Chimney and Porch. Using tanalised posts for both of these as they will be in the ground, and Macrocarpa for the main structures. Small porch, just to keep the rain out , but the Chimney will be quite large, they were made like this in order to and keep the flames away from the framing, and resultant catastrophic house fires!
Have a good week folks!

13/08/2026

Hello friends,

Quite nice to have broken out of that cold snap, had to crank start the old bones on a few of those mornings😁 Getting 15mm of rain yesterday, the same amount as the previous 30 days combined, has us feeling a bit like Spring.
Progressing well on the Slab hut, roof on now, not the end product yet as you'll see soon. Debated quite a bit on the roof, original huts often used reeds, old ship sails due to lack of materials and split shingles where there was enough timber cut. All corrogated iron had to be imported so quite rare until the 1860s at least, so our hut has been "renovated"
Cheers from the Team

08/08/2026

Hello friends,

We hope you're having a more pleasant weekend having survived the cold snap as we have. Very dry here now for August with only 23mm in the last 30 days on top of 17 frosts.
This has been great for completing outside tasks with good progress on our hut, all cladding on now and windows fitted. Most of the original huts would not have had glass windows due to unavailabilty, instead using canvas curtains which could be rolled up during the day.
Happy Sunday folks!

01/08/2026

Hello friends,

Happy Friday, well for us anyway, Sunday is our Friday and also happens to be our busiest day as regulars will attest.
Also August, yes crazy right, and definitely it is starting off as a Winter month rather than Spring and great to see the snow on Ruapehu for those heading that way.
"Tiny home" is progressing well, cladding going on now, verticle boards 300 x 40mm with a batten covering the joins, and some used corrogated iron for the roof, more to come on that soon. This little beast is built to last🤞

Cheers from Team!

Address

2861 State Highway 1
Sanson
4479

Opening Hours

Wednesday	9am - 3pm
Thursday	9am - 3pm
Friday	9am - 3pm
Saturday	9am - 3pm
Sunday	9am - 3pm

Telephone

+6463293295

Website

http://www.woolshedcafe.co.nz/

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