NEWS & UPDATES

So, what's been happening at Muddy Hill lately?

June 2025 Put a ring around it - only two weeks until our new shipment touches down in Port Chalmers then another few days until it arrives here at Muddy Hill! There'll be just enough time to get all of our lovely new pieces unpacked, catalogued, photographed and loaded up here on the website before we set off on our next sourcing tour for our spring stock on July 20. If you're on our mailing list, you'll get a heads-up as soon as we go live. And to all of our clients who have pre-orders arriving, thanks for your patience - the majority of pieces in each shipment are crafted to order for our gallery, so from order, production, quality control, collation, packing & shipping it's always about a five month wait... which seems like forever!! I've just placed a further order for our Corten collection for spring (ETA November). Some favourites will be back along with a some lovely new surprises. Stay warm out there! Sandy May 2025 Just a quick update - all of the pieces in our next shipment are ready! Container stuffing is scheduled for May 7 and we have an ETA to Port Chalmers of 23 June. We had a fabulous day at the ASB Market Day last weekend as part of the Arrowtown Autumn Festival, it was a great networking day & thanks to our clients who dropped by to say hello & tell us how much they're enjoying their purchases - the feedback is greatly appreciated & quite humbling - we love what we do! I'm already working on some new styles for our spring catalogue (ETA November), including water features & bird baths which we often get enquiries for. Sandy April 2025 We have snow on the mountains! Autumn is really sinking her teeth in, and we have a wicked cold snap which has also brought lots of lovely rain which we really do need. It's official - we are completely out of Corten sculptures until our next shipment arrives. I've been getting regular production updates from suppliers and we still look to be on schedule for container stuffing late April/early May, so still on track to have lots of lovely new stock here mid-year, although several of the larger pieces are pre-sold. We're super-happy with the way the new styles are looking and can't wait to have them here at the Gallery to enjoy before they find their new homes. Interesting fact - we're sending more pieces to the North Island than are staying down south presently and big shout out to Booth's Logistics who do such a great job of moving items all over the country for us - love your work, team! Take care & stay warm Sandy February 2025 Wow, it's been a busy start to the year! Both January & February were record months for the Gallery, so thank you to all of you who chose to purchase from us, especially to those of you who sent photos of your piece in its new home. Our Corten steel sculptures have been very popular with just our (I think) fabulous life-size mare left for us to enjoy until she finds a home, but if you missed out, don't worry, I've recently placed our next order and we have more on the way! We took the gallery off-site for a day and hosted our first ever trade stand at Lake Hayes A&P Show in early January, which went amazingly well, and we'll be flying the flag again at the Arrowtown Autumn Festival market day in late April. And earlier this month we hosted guests of the annual Queenstown Plunket Gardens & Galleries tour - I had the best time chatting about the Garden Gallery and of course, the garden! Our local Plunket ladies do a stellar job of organising the event - grateful thanks to them for both the invitation to be included & for the support they provided with their lovely garden ambassadors each day. Our catalogue is getting a little thin but there's still lots of lovely options to choose from, and our next shipment is in production with an ETA of late June/early July. There are quite a few pre-orders included in the next shipment but still plenty of room for some exciting new pieces (photos on this page are examples only of new styles we have coming) and a top-up of pots, urns and some of the more popular pieces which have sold out. Remember, we only offer items as single pieces and in limited quantities (except for some smaller pieces like the much-loved hares) so if anything catches your eye please reach out so we can alert you if/when it's back in stock. There's only one more day before summer officially ends & autumn begins... I suppose it won't be long before it's time to drag the dreaded rake out, but so much glorious autumn colour to enjoy between now and then. Happy gardening! Sandy