Kingfisher Cottage

  It is 8 years since we first started to develop Kingfisher Cottage in Matakana. In March 2024 we found ourselves in the position of having a spare, separate property on our 4 acres. My mother died in hospital and after her residence on our land for three years, we decided it was time to convert her home into a place to stay. It would be part of our plan to have several sources of income - a portfolio lifestyle. The Retreat at Kingfisher Cottage is the result. It was a hard decision to sell all of her furniture and ornaments, but we didn't want it to become a shrine to mum, we wanted it to be a new and relaxing place for couples to enjoy. This is her legacy...a beautiful place in which others can relax. It also has the most happy and positive feel to the place...we often sit there with a coffee enjoying the peace. We joke that we might actually move in there...! We are nearly there...hoping to open in Spring - maybe September. We are enjoying the process and learning a lot. It...

It was January 2021 and we had finally completed a secondary dwelling next to the cottage for my mother to live in. It became known as Birdsong and has developed its own identity. For the first few months, we built fences and raised gardens around her using as much of the saved building materials as we could. By January 2022, most of the infrastructure has been finished with just some patios and a green wall yet to be completed. Yikes it was hard work and took longer than we expected...we did most of it ourselves with shortages of builders and materials - especially in the last few months of the year. Development of the main home and land took a back seat although we tried hard to keep pushing on. Growing fruit and veg Luckily, our food self-sufficiency had started to pay off after nearly 5 years. Improving the soil and finding the best positions for growing various veg took time! We learnt: Most plants and trees do badly in full, unrelenting sun. We needed shade. Finally we started to...

Kingfisher Cottage in 2020 Our attempt at a zero-waste build I was once told that 'there is no such thing as a zero waste build’.  In 2020 we were faced with building our third home in 5 years. We were uneasy about the level of waste in our first two despite reassurances from the building company that waste was normal and unavoidable.  Despite this we decided to ‘have a go’ at reducing waste and recycling as much as possible. Even if we couldn’t reach zero – we should certainly do better and learn something in the process. We certainly did learn a lot and we believe that everyone should have a go at this to some degree if they can!  Background  We live on just over 1.6 hectares of land. We had always planned to build a barn next to the cottage, but two years ago, my elderly mother started to need more support and we decided to build her a home on the platform next to Kingfisher Cottage.  In November 2019 we signed a contract with the builder and we specified tha...

Kingfisher Cottage - Part Five, 4 years on         April 2020 and Kingfisher Cottage is in a bubble. The COVID-19 virus has caused a world-wide Pandemic. We are 'locked down' on our land and in our third week of isolation to prevent spread of the virus.   This is not much different for life here. In fact, this is what we have been planning and developing for...we haven't quite got there yet but we are doing fine. Four years ago in June, we moved onto our land an into our new home with a dream of building self- reliance through sustainability. It was a 10 year plan and we are coming up to 4 years in 2020.   We were lucky. A brain tumour and subsequent loss of work and all income devastated us for  two years after 2007. We were in rental properties and chewing through our savings very quickly. As new work developed and John started to make some money through trading on the share market, we managed to put a deposit down on...

Time flies and trees grow! I am reminded that it's easy to worry about all the things that haven't been done when all the time there are so many improvements! The land is feeling more settled now. Birds have returned and in some cases discovered us for the first time. Frogs belt out a call from the pond - that has miraculously become the Lotus pond - covered with gorgeous flowers soaring above the water. Lotus lilies Continuing to Plant We have planted many trees in the past year and those that were planted previously have grown ridiculously - sometimes two or three mts a year! Our plan is to get the framework of big trees and bushes in place before spending time on 'hard landscaping'. Trees only grow once in the ground and after 5 years, they are spectacular...left too long they won't create a mature environment. We are lucky to have so much land and can plant large trees. We have just about planted the framework now...in 2018 we planted over 70 ...

One of our many Kingfishers who visit   We had found our dream land and had a plan for Kingfisher Cottage. Apart from saving costs (part two of the series) we also wanted to make an income from the land. We love growing and seeing the land blossom. When we bought the land at Matakana in 2009 it was part of our ten year plan to become self-sufficient and stay active. The land had to be more than a park, it needed to pay for itself. In 2004 we sold a three acre property in Kumeu . For over eleven years we struggled to grow and keep the land there without earning anything from it. We were working as workaholics in a consulting business where I was away for weeks and often driving late at night to get from one job to another. We also ran a management retreat in a second building we constructed after three years there – it was good to roll out of bed and into a facilitation job! The homestead at Kumeu. Our first property on land.   In our spare time, we worke...