Samantha Winn
Hostess with the mostest riding high
Pukekohe-born Samantha Winn’s life was all about horses until she and her yachting enthusiast husband decided to change tack. Their latest venture, a five-star bed and breakfast luxury lodge out of Drury, has just won two industry awards for excellence. ANGELA KEMP visited.
Quail Lodge is a two-bedroom private lodge nestled high in the foothills of Drury. It has sweeping, panoramic views of Auckland, taking in Pukekohe, Glenbrook, the Manukau Heads, the Sky Tower and beyond. It’s simply spectacular. The lodge is next to the family’s architect-designed home amongst two acres of garden from which visitors can watch gliders soar above Auckland Gliding Club below. It’s easy to see why Samantha fell in love with the property three years ago and persuaded her husband, Hamish Ross, to move. She says she has always loved entertaining and the opportunity to run a private lodge for paying guests was too good to miss.
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Now, the couple are thrilled to have won both the 2021 Rising Star B&B Award and the booking.com Traveller Review Award 2021 for consistent, outstanding hospitality. Judges described Quail Lodge as ‘an immaculate property in both presentation and hosting’. The accolades have come less than two years since the lodge opened. Samantha grew up on Chelsea Farm in Rutherford Road, Pukekohe. Her father David Winn, a past president of Counties Racing Club, bred thoroughbreds so unsurprisingly horses became Samantha’s life. “From a very young age I slept and breathed horses. After school I competed in everything — dressage, show jumping and eventing,” she says.
“I rode competitively to a high level, ran a riding school and produced young horses for the international market.” Samantha is well known in Franklin and beyond for her special skill of teaching middle-aged riders to get into the saddle for the first time. “I have always taken great pleasure in hosting and entertaining. My equestrian background taught me to leave no stone unturned in the pursuit of excellence.” Husband, Hamish, is more used to riding the waves than a horse. A keen yachtsman, he is a world expert on all things America’s Cup and has been the legal advisor for several America’s Cup teams. After Samantha meet Hamish 10 years ago, the couple set up home
in Whitford before moving to St Heliers where they renovated a house overlooking the sea. Hamish wanted to take a step back from the America’s Cup so they bought a kitchen manufacturing company in Papakura for him to run. “After seven years the commute was getting worse and I began looking for properties out here,” says Samantha. “I had to twist Hamish’s arm to get him to move but he admits I was right. We both just love it here.” In December last year, Samantha threw a party for Hamish’s 60th birthday and surprised him, and most of the 80 guests, with a marriage proposal. “He’d been asking me to marry him www.southmagazine.co.nz
