Pukekura Park is a Garden of National Significance,[1] covering 52 hectares in the heart of New Plymouth, Taranaki in New Zealand.
[2] After the team's visit to play a two-day game against Taranaki in January 1936, the Marylebone Cricket Club captain Errol Holmes wrote: ... when we went to the ground, we were struck with its beauty, and decided that it must be one of the most attractive that could be imagined.
The pavilion stood on the fourth side which, in turn, led out on to Pukekura Park, famous for its assortment of trees and banks of hydrangeas almost as big as houses, while, away to the south, rose the peak of Mount Egmont, snow-capped, serene and splendidly aloof.
[11] In August 2021, domestic rugby returned to the venue for the first time in 79 years when host Taranaki defeated Hawke's Bay 33–19 in the National Provincial Championship in a one-off match.
[14] Pukekura Park is the venue for the annual Festival of Lights, which runs for free every year from mid-December to early February.
It has daytime and night time programmes of events for people of all ages, and the festival itself transforms the park into an illuminated wonderland every evening.
[15] In 2007, Pukekura Park was the winner of the "Mayfair" spot in a nationwide competition for places on Hasbro's New Zealand edition of Monopoly.