Ready Money Trail

The benched and signposted trail meanders through magnificent plantations of oak, eucalyptus and conifers, and takes in several historic sites. The trail leads up to a lookout over the Cheviot basin, and in Spring, much of the trail is through extensive plantings of daffodils.

Officially opened in September at the Cheviot Spring Festival, the trail has already attracted many walkers and bikers, and was incorporated into the Cheviot Lions Run and Ride during Labour Weekend.

The trail’s name celebrates the Cheviot Hills landowner Ready Money Robinson, who earned his nickname for buying the North Canterbury estate with a wheelbarrow of cash at the Lands and Deeds office in Nelson. The foundations of Ready Money’s mansion house are a feature of the Cheviot Hills Reserve and historic photographs of the estate in its heyday are inside the nearby cricket pavilion.

The trail is suitable for all levels of fitness and can be incorporated into the larger walking circuit from Cheviot down the Gore Bay Road, into the Cheviot Hills Reserve and back to Cheviot via a walking track along State Highway 1.