Redwood Valley near Nelson: Rural Area Guide to Lifestyle Blocks and Family History

Last updated October 2026

Redwood Valley is a rural locality in Tasman District, on the western fringe of Nelson rather than inside the city. It lies inland of State Highway 60, between the Waimea plains and the Moutere hills, and is reached through Richmond.

The name comes from the Redwood family, New Zealand Company settlers whose farm at nearby Appleby left its mark on local roads and on the wider Waimea landscape.

Today the valley is a mix of lifestyle blocks, orchards and other productive land, with a community hall on the Moutere Highway as its main gathering place. It is a place to live or drive through, not a town centre, and everyday shops and schools sit in neighbouring settlements.

Official Locality Facts

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About Redwood Valley

Tasman District Council has a permanent boil water notice on the Redwood Valley rural water schemes (schemes 1 and 2). Water must be boiled before drinking, preparing food, brushing teeth, or washing fruit and vegetables, until a protozoa treatment barrier is in place.

Council is combining the two schemes and building a new treatment plant on River Road. The council water supply page also notes a moratorium on new connections to the Redwood Valley rural scheme. Check those pages before you rely on a connection for a new house or subdivision.

The locality is spread across gentle rural country rather than gathered around a village street. Council describes scheme 1 as serving the inland valley between Eves Valley and the Moutere Highway, and scheme 2 as serving the coastal side north of and including that highway. Both draw groundwater from bores in the Redwood Valley and Waimea plains area, including a shared source on River Road, with existing plants at Golden Hills Road and O’Connors Creek.

Reservoirs then feed a mix of rural residential, industrial and commercial properties. The roads are lined with driveways, shelter belts and productive blocks, not a retail strip.

The valley takes its name from Henry and Mary Redwood, who landed in Nelson in December 1842 on the George Fyfe as New Zealand Company immigrants, with nine of their ten children. They took up land in West Waimea, in what is now Appleby, and farmed beef, dairy, mutton and some horticultural produce for the Nelson market.

Heritage New Zealand records that early Māori had already recognised the cropping potential of this fertile country, which is why settlers who drew sections there were considered fortunate. This page does not assign the valley to a single iwi; several iwi of Te Tau Ihu have interests across the Waimea and Moutere.

Living here means a short drive to Richmond for most services, and a longer rural outlook at home. The community building is the hall at the foot of the Moutere Hill. There is no railway station, and this guide could not confirm a public bus stop inside the locality, so a car is the practical way in and out.

Getting Around

State Highway 60 is the through route between Richmond and Motueka. The Moutere Highway continues inland from the Redwood Valley end toward Upper Moutere.

Redwood Road, Maisey Road and the O’Connors Creek site sit on or beside that highway, and council pipe work for the water upgrade has used stop-go traffic control on this stretch. If works are signed, allow extra time and follow the diversion via Redwood Road when it is in place.

Local roads such as Redwood Valley Road, Golden Hills Road, River Road and Malling Road are rural, with farm gates and lifestyle entrances rather than footpaths or a village centre.

Richmond, to the east, is where most people go for supermarkets, fuel and council services. Māpua, further along the coast, has a smaller village centre. Cycling and walking are on the road shoulder or on private land, not on a formed village path network.

History and Heritage

The first Redwood homestead on the West Waimea farm was a modest pisé house from the early 1840s. In 1866 the family replaced it with Stafford Place, a Carpenter Gothic timber homestead built of local tōtara and mataī.

Heritage New Zealand lists it as a Category 1 historic place. It stands at 61 Redwood Road, Appleby, and is a private home, not a public museum. The house was a social centre for the district and a base for adult children who later became well known beyond Nelson.

Henry Redwood, born in 1794, was a leading Catholic settler in Nelson until his death in 1873. The family plot is at St Peter and St Paul’s Church, Waimea West, at the corner of Waimea West Road and the Moutere Highway, and the Redwood Valley hall history records him as buried there. His son, also Henry, became known as the father of the New Zealand turf.

The Redwood racing stables at Waimea West were the first racing stables erected in New Zealand, probably in the early 1850s, and the main block has since been relocated to Richmond.

After Henry’s death, Mary Redwood moved to Marlborough in 1877 to live with their son Charles, and most of the Nelson land was sold. The names held.

Heritage New Zealand notes Redwood Valley, Redwood Road and Redwood Crossing as reminders of the family’s place in the early Waimea landscape, alongside buildings linked to Hednesford, the portion that passed to Henry Redwood junior.

Community and the Hall

Redwood Valley Hall stands on the Moutere Highway and is run by the Redwood Valley School Society. It began in 1887 as a branch school of Appleby School, at the foot of the Moutere Hill.

In 1931 the society bought the building when it was to close, after a new school opened in Upper Moutere, and younger pupils used it until 1961. The community has kept it for social events, and has marked both 100 years and 125 years of the building.

The hall’s own history describes an older Redwoods Valley district reaching toward the Waimea River, Upper Moutere, the north side of State Highway 60 (not including Rabbit Island), and the end of Golden Hills Road. That is a community memory of the historic district, not the official mapped boundary of the locality.

Families long associated with the hall include the Maiseys of Maisey Road and the Brights of Redwood Valley Road. The hall remains the place to hire for local gatherings; contact details are on the hall website.

Where to Learn More

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Redwood Valley part of Nelson?
No. It is a locality in Tasman District, on the western fringe of Nelson. Nelson City Council does not administer it. Day-to-day services come through Tasman District Council, with Richmond the nearest service town.

Is there a town centre or shops?
No. Redwood Valley is a rural area of roads, lifestyle blocks and productive land. The hall on the Moutere Highway is the community building. Groceries and most services are in Richmond.

Can I drink the tap water?
Not without boiling it, if you are on the Redwood Valley rural schemes. Council has a permanent boil water notice on schemes 1 and 2 until protozoa treatment is installed. Boil water for drinking, food preparation, brushing teeth, and washing fruit and vegetables, and check the council page in case the notice changes.

Can I get a new connection to the rural water scheme?
The council water supply page notes a moratorium on new connections to the Redwood Valley rural scheme, alongside Eighty-Eight Valley. Confirm the latest rule with Tasman District Council before you buy or build on the assumption of a new connection.

Are there schools in Redwood Valley?
No school operates in the locality now. Appleby School, on the Moutere Highway at RD1 Richmond, is the nearest state full primary. The old Redwood Valley branch school building is the community hall; younger classes there ended in 1961.

How do I get there from Nelson?
Drive through Richmond and take State Highway 60 west. The Moutere Highway and Redwood Road are the main approaches. Local roads include Redwood Valley Road, Maisey Road, Golden Hills Road, River Road and Malling Road. Plan on driving; a public bus stop in the locality was not confirmed.

What does the name mean, and is there a Māori name?
Redwood Valley is named for the Redwood family, who farmed at Appleby from 1842. No separate official Māori name for this locality was confirmed. The wider district is part of the Waimea, and early Māori use of the fertile soils is recorded by Heritage New Zealand.

Can I visit Stafford Place or the old racing stables?
Stafford Place is a private Category 1 home at 61 Redwood Road, Appleby, and is not open as a visitor site. The Redwood racing stables have been relocated from Waimea West to Richmond and are not a public attraction in the valley. The churchyard at St Peter and St Paul’s, Waimea West, is the public heritage stop linked to the family.

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Explore Nelson only lists suburbs officially recognised by Land Information New Zealand (LINZ), and Redwood Valley is one of them. Suburb boundary: LINZ, CC BY 4.0.