Hurunui River Wines and Hanley are situated in The Peaks district of North Canterbury. The Peaks sits against the hills on the western edge of the Amuri Basin, 15 Kilometres from Hawarden and 90 Kilometres north of our closest city, Christchurch.

The Peaks was originally part of the Waitohi run taken up by Charles Sidey in 1851 after James Lance, a partner who owned Horsley Downs Estate, released a 900 hectare block to the government which then divided it into 18 leasehold sections of 40 to 50 acres each.

George Edward Mason who took up land in the hills to the west of Waitohi managed Sideys’ run and built the first cottage near the present Horsley Down Homestead.

He called his home Horsley after a family property in Gloucestershire in England and Down after the hill near the foot of which his home stood. A partnership comprising both Masons’ and Sideys’ runs was bought by the Mallock brothers John and George and the Lance brothers James and Henry. The partnership was named Mallock and Lance and together built a significant station in excess of 120,000 acres known as Heathstock and Horsley Down. James Lance was the local Member of Parliament. The break up of the station took place during the 1880’s and 1890’s, a number of smaller farms had been purchased out of the leasehold in the mid 1870s including Clonmell, owned by William Costello from 1876.

Costellos Road is named after William Costello and is where Hanley and Hurunui River Wines Cafe are located. Clonmell remains in the Costello family today.

The Peaks was frequently referred to as early as 1861 in the diary of Thomas McDonald, the first manager of Horsley Downs and Heathstock, most often referring to the mustering of sheep in the area which included the hills and flatland.

The breakup of the Horsley Downs led to the run being reduced to the homestead and a few hundred acres.

The Peaks grew creating a community of smaller farms and produced an increase in the number of families settling in the district. In 1891 a school was opened with a required minimum roll of 20 pupils. At times this reached 32 and eventually fell to an average of 13. The school was closed in 1927 due to continued falling rolls. The school building was bought by the Peaks community, enlarged and became the community hall where it still remains today.