Love at first sight!

At long last we have found a property! Today it officially became ours. It was love at first sight and ticked all the boxes. I just had to share it with you. And it is only 30 minutes drive from where we live now so I can still keep my job.

The house sits on 2 acres of lawn and gardens. It has lots of gorgeous trees and plenty of room for more daffodils, roses and fruit trees! It is surrounded by market gardens, garden centres, rose nurseries and there is a fabulous cafe five minutes down the road. And I thought I'd mention that there are two quilting stores in town! It is five minutes drive from a lovely river, 20kms from the beach and about one and a half hours drive north of Wellington.

The house feels like it reflects our personalities much more than the home we have sold. And the grounds are park-like. There is lots of history to the property too. In the early 1940's it used to be part of a RNZAF (Royal NZ Air Force) air field!

It has a spa pool which I think will be lovely to soak in during the winter months. I've never had a spa pool before and I have no idea how to look after it! However, the most exciting thing is that is has a self-contained flat which will make the perfect studio space for Mr M & M and I.
Can you tell I'm excited?

Carole x

A New Year has begun and where have I been?

You might well be asking this!

Martha Mine, Waihi, North Island

We have been on, what seems like, a never-ending search for the ideal property.  When we decided to sell our home we expected it to take forever to sell and that we'd be able to find another property without problem. Not the case.

Martha Mine, Waihi, North Island

We had a checklist of things we'd both like in a property, and knew that we'd have to make concessions, but we thought the perfect property was out there somewhere.
We started looking at Coromandel and worked our way down the coast, looking at properties around Waihi, Katikai, Opotiki and Whakatane.

Harbour at Whakatane, North Island

 If you are ever in Whakatane do stop at Wally's on the Wharf, they have the best fish and chips I have ever tried!
We made trip after trip away searching. Nothing.
So now we have resorted to Plan B, and we are searching locally, with 4 weeks until we have to move out. Every waking hour is spent searching the internet and visiting homes.
I'll keep you posted on our progress.

Carole x