New Zealand

There are towns you visit for their scenery, towns you visit for their history, and towns you remember because of the people you meet. Methven, a small alpine village on New Zealand’s South Island, manages to combine all three. But perhaps its most memorable feature is something surprisingly simple: two old country pubs standing opposite one another at the town’s main crossroads. One is blue. The other is brown. And between them, they tell much of the story of a community that has spent generations bringing farmers, travellers, mountain adventurers and locals together. In an age when so much of…