Your accommodations: The Guest Cottage
The Guest Cottage is a detached, self-contained 6 x 12 metre building with two bedrooms, shared bath and great-room with kitchen, dining and living facilities combined. It also comes with a private north-facing deck and bay-facing potager courtyard. The bi-fold doors facing west open the wall on sunny days to bring the outdoors in.
The guest cottage has two bedrooms (queen beds) in a self-contained earth brick cottage. Whitewashed exterior walls with marble tiles on interior walls.
It features a great room with high ceiling that includes living, dining and kitchen space and great views on three sides. On the sun side (down under the sun tracks in the North) it has a wide deck for outdoor dining and chaise lounges.
Another view of the great room.
The dining table seats eight and is handmade with a copper surface and leather/timber chairs
Outside the Guest Cottage
The potager garden courtyard is in front of the guest cottage, providing spectacular views of Motukaha Island and the Hauraki Gulf. The courtyard has a large marble table on earth brick legs in the centre. Along the wall, adjacent to sheep farm next door, the kitchen herbs and spices are grown. The potager courtyard is a popular site for film location shoots, especially for those film and photo shoots in February when Europe is locked in ice and snow.
In these photographs, the crew sets up the shoot for half a day and then the actors go to work when the cameras roll.
The White Courtyard (Carrera marble)
The outer courtyard faces the north (sun) and is used for larger gatherings.
Gabriella's studio
The gallery is about 100 m² floor area with 3.2 m high ceilings. The walls are made of whitewashed 300 mm thick earth-brick. The large window is a stained-glass floor-to-ceiling-length window from an Irish monastery. The acoustics are outstanding, enough so that a professional recording engineer uses it for recording choirs to produce CD's. The floor is a timber truss system to provide flex for dancing and yoga. See www.lewenz.net for Gabriella's latest work.
Gardens
The grounds include several gardens. The main garden, surrounded by olive trees and lavender grows most of the household food in raised beds. The potager garden provides the herbs and spices for cooking, and the garden below the reception area is managed by Plant Medicine Waiheke who use plant essences grown in the gardens in their products. Click to view my garden delights:
Additional Accommodations
Three bedrooms above the studio done in a garret design with sloped ceilings. One bedroom has a queen bed, next a double, next a single. Shared marble shower and toilet. Shared living room with bright sunlight.
Bedrooms above studio
3rd Floor Sun Room
The Hauraki Gulf from another patio on the property