Foundations

Despite the continual rain progress is now being made on our new "Guest House". The foundations have been laid and I am slowly beginning to get an image of the final size of it. For anyone who hasn't yet heard of our building plans here is a brief rundown..... We are building a small "Guest House" next to our garage with the following three uses in mind.

1. A home away from home for my family and friends - as the children get bigger it is more difficult to share our space comfortably with family and friends for extended periods of time. Actually it is easy for us, but less relaxing for our visitors! Having a place where people can escape to when they need to will make things easier for all involved. There will be two bedrooms upstairs and reservations are currently being taken!

2. A kitchen for me to start a new business. I will have a small kitchen which will enable me to get a permit to make muffins, cakes, bread etc. My aim is to make this business work within 5 years, starting small and hopefully growing it together with the jam business. Volunteers are welcome to help make and test the products!

3. As a place for people to stay as part of "Green Tourism". This is a concept which is growing rapidly in Japan and is similar to a Bed & Breakfast. The theory is that people come and stay and then have some kind of agricultural experience with the different families. Tom is currently involved with this organisation here, but it really needs a lot more focus if it is to become successful. I hope we can add a slightly different angle to it where we can combine NZ cooking, mountain climbing etc. into the experience. Weekday visits from retired couples would be perfect.......

Yesterday I finalised the colours and it looks like in the next week or so the walls will start going up. It should all be finished by the end of July/start of August (if it is not flooded out first!). The reservation book is now open - we look forward to you coming to stay (you can choose the "yellow room" or the "green room").

The original site.













Progress as of May 20th - the front large square is the living room, the back left is the bathroom and the back right is the kitchen. Upstairs there will be two loft bedrooms.