A country house with a lake at the end of the lawn

Sable Sails sits on four hectares of old orchard ground on the Frankton–Ladies Mile, with Lake Hayes below the terrace and the Remarkables filling the window above the fireplace. The house was a working woolshed and homestead long before it was a lodge; the beams, the schist and the stone water trough by the drive are all original. Five suites, one long dining table, one bar, one casino.

It is a small operation on purpose. There is no reception desk, no lift, and no corridor of identical doors. Whoever answers the phone is usually the person who will carry your bags and pour your first drink.

Our Facilities

A heated spa pool sits in the shelter of the stone wall behind the house, screened from the road and open until midnight. Inside there is a drawing room with a working fire, a shelf of Central Otago maps and paperbacks left behind by guests, and a dining room that seats sixteen at one table. Breakfast is cooked to order between seven and ten.

The old woolshed on the north side of the courtyard holds the bar and the casino floor. Guests have laundry, secure ski and bike storage, drying racks, off-street parking for eight cars, and full-property Wi-Fi that reaches the lawn. Housekeeping is daily, and luggage can be left with us on either side of your stay.

Rooms & Suites

Five ensuite suites, all upstairs, all with their own outlook. Rates include breakfast, the spa pool, the drawing room fire and entry to the casino floor. No two are laid out the same way, so it is worth telling us who is travelling with you.

The Sable Suite

The largest room in the house, running the full width of the west gable. Super-king bed, a deep bath under the window, a separate sitting area with two chairs turned toward Lake Hayes, and the best of the evening light. The quietest suite in the building — it is furthest from both the courtyard and the casino.

The Hayes Suite

North-facing, with French doors onto a small private balcony above the herb garden. King bed, walk-in shower, and a writing desk that most guests end up eating breakfast at instead. Warm all day and the first room to catch the sun.

The Kawarau Suite

A king that splits into two singles, which makes it the room we give to friends travelling together and to families with older children. It looks over the orchard and the stone wall toward the river road. Ensuite with a double shower and heated floors.

The Pinot Suite

Tucked into the eastern corner under the pitch of the roof, low-beamed and dark-panelled, with a queen bed and a claw-foot bath. The smallest of the five and the one couples ask for by name. A short flight of stairs from the bar and the casino.

The Merino Suite

The old wool classer’s room, kept plain on purpose: white walls, a king bed, a schist chimney breast and a window that opens straight onto the mountains. Ensuite with a shower over a slate floor. The best value in the house through the shoulder months.

Functions & Private Hire

The whole property sleeps twelve and seats forty for dinner, and it is regularly booked out as one piece. Exclusive use gives you the house, the gardens, the bar, the dining room and the casino floor, with our own kitchen and a single coordinator for the entire event.

The Private Residence

Take all five suites and the house becomes yours for the duration — no other guests, no fixed meal times, and the bar and casino running to your schedule rather than ours. Popular with families over New Year and with company boards who want two days somewhere nobody can find them. Minimum two nights.

Weddings

Ceremonies on the lower lawn with the lake behind you, drinks in the walled garden, dinner at the long table, and dancing in the woolshed once the tables are cleared. We cap weddings at forty seated so the house never has to pretend to be a venue. One wedding a week in season, and only one.

Corporate Events

Board retreats, offsites and client weekends. The dining room takes sixteen around one table with a screen and hard-wired power, and the casino floor makes an unusually effective end to a long day of talking. Full-day rates include breakfast, a working lunch, dinner and the bar.

Around Lake Hayes

The lodge sits where the Wakatipu basin narrows, which puts most of what people come to Central Otago for inside a half-hour drive.

Lake Hayes

The eight-kilometre loop track starts four minutes from the front door and takes about two hours at a walking pace. Go anticlockwise in the morning for the reflection at the northern end. Swimming off the eastern shore in February is colder than it looks and worth it anyway.

Arrowtown

Ten minutes up the road: a gold-rush main street of miners’ cottages, three genuinely good restaurants, a small and very well-kept museum, and the Chinese settlement down by the river. In late April the avenue of sycamores turns and the whole town books out for it.

Skiing

Coronet Peak is twenty-five minutes from the gate and runs night skiing three evenings a week; the Remarkables is about forty. Cardrona and Treble Cone are inside ninety minutes for a day trip. We store and dry gear overnight and can have you fed and out the door before the first chair.

Cycling

The Queenstown Trails run past the bottom of the property, so you can ride to Arrowtown, out to the Kawarau bridge, or all the way into Frankton without touching the highway. Secure storage and a workshop stand live in the shed, and hire bikes can be delivered here.

Wine

Gibbston is fifteen minutes east through the gorge, Bannockburn about an hour, and Amisfield close enough to walk home from if somebody else is driving. Central Otago pinot noir is what the bar is built around, and we will happily point you at the cellar doors still worth the drive.

Golf

Millbrook is five minutes away, The Hills is ten, and Jack’s Point is half an hour down the lake with the best closing stretch in the country. We can arrange tee times and still get you back for dinner.