Christine Fernyhough, author of the bestselling memoir The Road To Castle Hill: A High Country Love Story, is well known as a leading Auckland philanthropist, having set up Books in Homes and then the Gifted Kids Programme for high-achieving children in low-decile schools.
In 2003 she was a recent widow when she bought the legendary Castle Hill Station, near Porters Heights in the Canterbury Alps. She has since transformed it into a high-performing farm. The station came to more national attention in 2007 when she published the bestselling The Road To Castle Hill: A High Country Love Story.
Then, with her husband John Bougen, she published Ben and Mark: Boys of the High Country and, in 2012, the picture book for young readers Dart of Castle Hill.
Chrissie remains active in both rural and urban communities, is in demand as a public speaker, and in 2011 was made a CNZM for services to the community.
Christine Fernyhough is well known as a leading Auckland philanthropist, having set up Books in Homes and then the Gifted Kids Programme for high achieving children in low decile schools. In 2003 she was a recent widow when she bought the legendary Castle Hill Station, near Porters Heights in the Canterbury alps. She has since transformed it into a high-performing farm.
The station came to more national attention in 2007 when she published the bestselling The Road To Castle Hill: A High Country Love Story. She then, with her husband John Bougen, published Ben & Mark: Boys of the High Country and, in 2012, the picture book for young readers, Dart of Castle Hill.
Chrissie remains active in both rural and urban communities. She is a member of the Creative Thinking Board of the University of Auckland and of the TFSEC - Territorial Forces Special Employment Fund, a Defence Force appointment representing the primary sector. In 2011 she was made a CNZM for services to the community.
Dunedin's Star described The Road to Castle Hill as 'an inspiring read' that is 'a reflection of the Kiwi "can do" attitude that's been the backbone of New Zealand achievement'. Next magazine called it 'an exciting and inspiring story of how one woman turned her life in a completely new direction', while New Idea declared it 'warm and humorous, this book is inspirational'. Writing in the Taieri Herald, Fiona Jenks concluded: 'This is a wonderful story, with plenty of photographs, and will inspire people to dream big and have the nerve to follow that dream. It made me go back to the book case and rediscover my Mona Anderson and Jim Henderson stories'.
NZ House and Garden has likened it to the way in which Sara Henderson 'celebrated her love of the Australian outback'. The Saturday Express noted that Fernyhough's initial ignorance of rural life makes her book accessible to urban readers, as well as to rural dwellers, and concluded that, with its beautiful photography and traditional high-country recipes, the book is a package that 'any good true-blooded Kiwi will enjoy . . . it's a must to buy'.
Commenting on the book's subtitle - 'a high country love story' - the Gisborne Herald remarked that it is 'a love story with many angles', noting the blossoming of Fernyhough and Bougen's romantic relationship in the making of the book, and the Nelson Mail 'highly recommends . . . [this] heartwarming story told with humour and honesty'. Hawke's Bay Today called it 'a warm and inspirational story of a woman bold enough to embark on an entirely new life . . . A tale of pluck and determination, it immediately struck a chord with Kiwis . . . It has received rave reviews, the most rewarding from potentially her harshest critics, the farming community themselves.'
