History

Denheath House, Pleasant Point

From Post Master to Mastering Custard

Beautiful, old Denheath House is the birthplace of the Denheath Custard Square. It started out its life as Pleasant Point's Post Office, opening nearly a hundred years ago in 1912.

When the Post Office closed it was bought by a couple called Dennis and Heather who renamed it Denheath House.

The Denheath Custard Square

A Legend is Born

Heather was an accomplished weaver and more importantly, for this story anyway, a wonderful home baker.

Heather used to do her weaving downstairs which attracted passers-by. And Pleasant Point being the friendly place that it is, Heather would always offer her visitors some home-baking when they called in. Very soon Heather was getting so many visitors that she decided to turn Denheath House into a teahouse offering her scrumptious baked goodies.

The word spread, more and more visitors came and the most sought after product was the fluffy, high-rise square of coconuty goodness, that was the forerunner of the Denheath Custard Square.

When Heather and Dennis eventually sold Denheath House, they decided that Heather's old notebook full of recipes, and the right to use them would be included in the purchase. 

The Templeton Family

Taking Kiwi Custard to the World

The Templeton Family (that's us!) are Donald, Lisa and kids Majick and Keesarla. Lisa's mother was so sure that Heather's Custard Squares had a serious future that she persuaded her family to take over Denheath House (read more about that here) and gave the Denheath Custard Square a new lease of life.

Pleasant Point became a favourite stopping-off place for the tour buses to and from Mt Cook, Queenstown and Milford Sound. And the yummy treat that everyone wanted to try was the uniquely Kiwi Denheath Custard Square. Sometimes international tourists would even request shipments to be sent back home, going to great lengths to obtain them for special occasions!

It wasn't long before requests from cafes to wholesale our desserts were becoming so frequent that we were struggling to keep up with demand. So we made the very hard decision to move out of Denheath House into a new kitchen-facility in nearby Timaru.

Now we distribute Denheath Custard Squares (and many more tasty goodies) all over New Zealand, every day.

And what about Denheath House? It is now owned by Steve Casey and is run as 'Legends Cafe'. And yes, of course, it stocks the 'legendary' Denheath Custard Square.

However you don't have to travel all the way to Pleasant Point (although we'd love it if you did!) to taste a heavenly Denheath Custard Square for yourself. They are available at cafes and stockists all over New Zealand and you can purchase them online here.