“Mt Potts Station is an iconic property in the heart of Ashburton’s back country. In recent times it has had several owners, but the latest of these, Russian Alex Germanovich, says he is here for the long haul.

Guardian reporter Sue Newman and freelance photographer Jacqui Beardsley went calling to find out his plans for the station and its future.

Owners may come and go but when you’re in the back country, the wind still blows and the rivers still run to the sea and that’s exactly how the new owner of Mt Potts station wants it to be.
Alex Germanovich’s home might a world away, but his heart is very firmly in the place he says is as close to paradise as he’ll ever get.
From the first moment he drove into the Rangitata River valley he knew it was a place he wanted to live.
And it is the very things that attracted Alex to Mt Potts that will ensure he, and the land he now owns will forge a harmonious relationship, one that will see it thrive as a working farm under his guardianship.
There will be more to the relationship, however, than one man and his land.
Alex wants to build on the tourism infrastructure that is already part of the station to ensure others can also share his dream.
He knows that one man cannot build this dream alone and around him he’s establishing a team of people who are as committed as he is to the back country and high country farming, who understand the special nature of Mt Potts and who also want to share that dream with guests.
The silence, the vast open spaces – they are priceless commodities.
He lived in Siberia for seven years; he understands isolation.
And he understands bone chilling cold.
In a bad winter, temperatures would drop to minus 56 degrees centigrade; in a good winter to minus 35 degrees.
It’s taken half a lifetime for Alex to find his utopia. As a Russian, he’s accustomed to vast landscapes and endless silence, but as a retired businessman, he believes he finally knows what it is to find the place of your soul.
“I drove into this valley and my adrenalin started going; it’s a very, very special place,” he said.
“What we do in here, we’ll be doing slowly. I want to make sure whatever we do we get it right.
“We are still thinking about our vision for the future and we’d rather do nothing than do something wrong.”
Alex and Mt Potts almost didn’t become partners.
He travelled into the area last year. The station was for sale, but the auction was just days away. It didn’t sell and fate played into his hands.
“I came back, made my offer and I got it. Now I have many plans in my head.”
For Alex, the rebirth of Mt Potts as a productive high country farm and its lodge as a tourism base, will be a staged process, the lodge and restaurant first and then an upgrade of the accommodation complex.
Nothing will be rushed, progress will be measured and it will be done in a way that is sympathetic to what has gone before and in a way that will maintain the integrity of the high country environment.
He’s inspired by the self sufficient nature of the station.
It generates its own power using a 1938 generator that came from Mt Cook in 1961 when the Hermitage joined the national grid.
Increasing the capacity of that generator is crucial to his plans to expand the lodge and to cater for regular groups of tourists.
Currently its output is 56kw an hour, but with some tweaking, he is confident that can be boosted to 120kw/hr.
Yes, Alex has his dreams of what the lodge could become.
And he knows how good remote lodges can be from the time he spends in Russia.
Where he’ll pitch Mt Potts he’s unsure, but he does know he wants his lodge to be a place that will welcome all people from all corners of the world.
“We have a lot to do yet. First we have to upgrade our infrastructure, upgrade our accommodation to have ensuites and maybe extend that accommodation.
“This all depends if it starts to work, but first we will move in small steps.
“There is no reason for us to create a luxury lodge here if we are not guaranteed business.”
For him there is one crucial element in making his new business work and that’s people. Without the right team on board, Alex knows his dream will remain just that.
“This place is rustic, we want to retain that, to save its spirit, but to do anything we must have good people.”
Currently Alex divides his time between homes in Moscow and London.
He visited New Zealand four times before he found Mt Potts.
The key to all tourism development on the station is the farm.
Buying Mt Potts might have been a decision made with emotion, with the heart, but running Mt Potts is most definitely being done with his head.
Alex admits he’s not a farmer, knows little about the needs of a high country station, but when it comes to running Mt Potts he’s every inch the business man.
What he doesn’t know is more than made up for by the knowledge of farm manager Matt Griffin.
Matt’s an Englishman who’s been in New Zealand for several years. He came on his OE and forgot to go home, wooed and won by our high country.
He’s worked on farms from a young age and in New Zealand he’s doing what he loves, working the land, high country land.
Taking over at Mt Potts is the stuff of dreams for a man who wants to make his living in remote places.
And Matt’s no newcomer to remote living, having chalked up time on southern stations.
He knows he’s been handed the opportunity of a life time and he’s already fully immersed in the job.
His plans are big, but he’s tempering that with the caution of a man who knows that whatever developments plans he presents to Alex, the business case has to stack up.
Since April, the 1200 hectare property has absorbed around $1million and counting.
Now the station runs cattle and deer, but Matt wants to bring back sheep.
It’s sheep country and the station needs their grazing habits as part of its pasture management programme.
“At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what we do up here, we still have long, cold winters and late springs every year.
“You have to respect the elements when you live in this environment.”
For him, the irrigation schemes that were installed by previous owners are a godsend.
There’s the big centre pivot on the river flats and a number of K-lines.
Farming in New Zealand and farming in England could not be more different, Matt said.
“Farming in Britain isn’t driven by production, it’s about grants and subsidies, where as here it’s all about production and that’s my passion, producing good cows, sheep and deer, not the subsidy bailout.”
Yes, it’s Alex’s money Matt’s investing, but he treats it as though it were his own.
Large amounts of cash have already gone into the property but there is still so much to do – building stock genetics, fertiliser and an aggressive pasture renewal programme, large scale broom eradication, more stock, better machinery.
The list is endless.
“What we’re doing here though, we’re not doing on our own, we’re trying to work closely with DoC and Ecan, we’re sitting down around the table and talking about what we plan to do. We’re being very careful to do all of the right things.”
Matt knows he’s lucky to be doing what he does.
“It’s not only the setting and the scenery, but these guys are putting their trust in me.”
The newest member of the Potts team is Reece Smith, chef.
He’s a Kiwi who hasn’t been home for years, but Alex managed to do the impossible, tempt him out of Italy and into the back country.
He’s an international in every way, having spent his past years working in hotels, lodges and restaurants in London and Italy. He met Alex through a friend, and inspired by his vision for the station, Reece signed on as the man who will lead the revival of the Mt Potts Lodge restaurant.
The view from his dining room is expansive, it’s conversation stopping.
His challenge is to create food to match.
With just a few days in his new kitchen behind him, Reece already has a shopping list that runs into pages.
He’s swapped a modern, well equipped city kitchen for a lodge where the ovens are as old as the building, pans are battered and few and where getting food on the table requires improvisation, patience and the ability to change plans mid-stream.
And yet he serves up salted salmon with sesame oil and raspberry couli for starters, cauliflower and potato soup, a venison fillet with vegetables and tops that off with pastry circles on top of strawberries, glazed apples and a vanilla cream.
A simple lunch.
For him coming back to New Zealand is a challenge and while he’s still wearing his city shoes, he admits the Mt Potts location is amazing.
“I’ve seen the seven wonders of the world, this is another one.
“Coming here is a creative challenge, for me, if there’s no challenge, then there’s no joy.”
His role is simple – making sure the lodge runs well, the food is fantastic and that guests have a good time.
He’s also ambitious and wants to run a menu that reflects food the station produces.
Ultimately that will include meat from its paddocks, fish from its rivers, vegetables from a home garden and tunnel house.
“We’re a long way from anywhere but I hope we can do the zero kilometres things with our food; this will be a very important marketing point for us.
“We already have our own off-grid power and we need to take the next step with our food.”
He sees his role as something of an educator too, in the value of pure food, traceable food.
“Our menu here won’t be one that has 20 main courses, it will be small; we want to do less but to do it better.”
Everywhere he looks, he sees potential.
“Look at this, I could be in London doing a traditional chef’s job, stuck in traffic going to work.”
And then there’s Alex’s daughter Lola.
She’s the motivator, the energy and the marketing arm of the Mt Potts business.
She now calls Auckland home, but intends spending increasing amounts of time on the farm.
She’s a city girl who is at home in the hills and she’s inspired by the potential she sees for developing the tourism side of the business.
For her to do her job, however, she needs to know the infrastructure is in place and that it can support regular visitors.
Her work is at the end of the chain.
“Everything we do here must be sustainable.
“We just need to move through this slowly, carefully, and see how it goes.”
She’s rebuilding the station’s website and knows that ultimately word of mouth will be her best advertising tool. And that means, like her dad, she’s committed to ensuring that whatever is done at Mt Potts is done to the highest standards and for the right reasons.

Pictured above: The team leading Mt Potts into a new future, from left owner Alex Germanovich, his daughter Lola, farm manager Matt Griffin and chef Reece Smith.

Below: Mt Potts Station presents a glorious vista to the world.

Photos Jacqui Beardsley

If you would like to come in for lunch or dinner over the summer months we will be happy to welcome you. Drop by for a delicious meal or a few drinks. We can cater for events and special occasions, whether you’d like it to be a casual outdoor BBQ or a sit down lunch or dinner.

We are also offering a BBQ lunch service for tour companies bringing people in the area and wishing to stop and recharge their batteries. 25$ + tax deal includes a sausage, a piece of chicken, a piece of rump meat, bread and two salads and cake and a soft drink. Offer only valid for groups.

If you would like to book a meal or just want more info on what we can do for you, please drop by or give us a call.

Around 90 people turned up for the pot luck lunch and BBQ. The weather was glorious, the food abundant and the wine flowing… Guests arrived in cars, horse carriages and helicopters which ensured the day did not get boring.

It was a good chance for everyone to meet, get to know each other, catch up with old friends and make some new ones. We hope that we can have many more parties like this in the future on regular basis, as it creates a sense of community, which we believe is important when you live in largely isolated areas and don’t get to see your neighbours much.

We are very happy to announce that Reece Smith is joining us for the summer months. Reece is a wonderful Chef with a lot of experience in hospitality management, and a great sense of humour! All the ingredients you need for a thriving restaurant business… He’s a Kiwi who has been away from home for years. Having just flown down from Italy, he got stuck right in. He has grand plans for the Lodge and Restaurant and is keen not to lose valuable time getting the kitchen ready for the busy summer season. Reece has tonnes of experience having worked in various restaurants and hotels in Europe and South America. He is out to create a simple menu, working with local fresh produce and ensuring all our guest have only good things to say about us.

Those wishing to camp at Mt Potts and take in the breathtaking scenery are welcome to use the toilet and shower facilities. The bar can be opened on request for larger groups. The lodge will also be available for parties, special occasions and general meals and drinks, although bookings should be made several days in advance.

For bookings and inquiries please call 03 3039738 or email info@mtpotts.co.nz