Only six weeks after that first meeting, they bought an unwanted triangle of undulating gorse and scrub within the nation with a imaginative and prescient to construct. Curiously, the actual estate itemizing read: “Rural building site. Only a few kilometres from Moutere Highway, almost 1 acre pleasant undulation contour. Elevated soothing pastoral views. Floor cover mostly fern and a few pines, nothing a match couldn't clear.” Oh, really? It was true pioneering spirit that kept them going through those first few years once they cleared the land and planned their dwelling whereas living in a single, uninsulated, tin garage. This humble dwelling formed the nucleus from which they fed, socialised with, and gave English classes to up to 12 workers regularly. Even for an ex-restaurateur, catering was no imply feat contemplating there was no operating hot water and the only two hot plates could not be run at the identical time as the oven.

external frame The ever-changing and multi-national workforce of WWOOFERS (Keen Employees On Organic Farms) embraced the life-style that had them boiling a copper for two hours before siphoning the steaming water into the outside bath. The pleasure of soaking beneath the stars at evening was well earned and much commented on, so much in order that an outside bath has been added as a characteristic to The Peach Suite which allows guests to think about the sooner prototype. The WWOOFERS have been an integral a part of the method of creating adobe bricks and working on the development of The Mudcastle but more importantly, maybe, they stored morale up and the dream focussed. Why clay though? An opportunity comment concerning the mountain of clay they might must truck off site led Glenys to the library and the more the couple read about earth constructing, the extra convinced they grew to become that, though by no means having built something in their lives, this was something they may do.

As a bonus, it was found that the clay on their property had the best composition for making adobe bricks and so utilising the earth beneath them as a resource without cement or sand stabilization was to be the first level of distinction for The Mudcastle. Next began the technique of adapting clay sieving and brick production strategies written for Australian circumstances and positive-tuning them to accommodate the uniqueness of The Mudcastle site. As with most adventures, there were peaks and troughs. In batch one, the labour intensive, EcoLight dimmable textbook foot-stomping technique was used. Nonetheless hobbling three days later for a pitiful yield of 70 bricks, and fast working out of associates volunteering to repeat the experience, this method was quickly abandoned. With the refined course of they dubbed the Cake-mixer Methodology using a customised rotary hoe, production improved to 300 bricks on their best day. Three rotary hoes and one front end loader later, EcoLight the required 10,000 bricks had been produced for the first phase of constructing. external page

The bricks had been solar-baked in wooden moulds with temperature extremes moderated by polythene covers however there have been occasions when, exhausted, they took the chance of leaving the bricks exposed to the weather at night and lost the lot. All a part of holding the dream alive. Clive Johnston, Kevin's father and a conventional block layer by trade, trained Glenys to block lay the adobe bricks coming off Kevin's production line and worked alongside the couple sharing and expanding his experience on the best way. Opened to new influences, Clive discovered and perfected a revolutionary building product using waste sawdust and this product has been used for the first time in the development of the castle turrets, the second section of constructing. As this new building product was gray and regarded nothing like clay, the couple experimented utilizing an previous pioneers’ recipe they found for making limewash. In true Kiwi style, they used a 44-gallon drum. The recipe integrated beef tallow with lime and resulted in a white limewash.

This was then tinted to a clay color energy-saving LED bulbs with a mix of pure earth ochres. The process was, without doubt, excitingly explosive and never for the faint hearted and the unusual “earthy” fragrance was, and stays, distinctive. As a pure preservative coating, the distinctive scent recedes very step by step and visitors staying in the Gold Turret, as the one interior accommodation house where it has been used, should still discern it. Peter Harte, Glenys' father and an electrician by trade, has enhanced The Mudcastle with dramatic lighting and creative concepts, and was a relentless, encouraging presence within the ahead momentum of Glenys and Kevin's dream for a few years. Not to be left out, Kevin’s mom Margaret helped with cleansing and baking and Glenys’ mom manned a second sewing machine to make curtains for the primary turret. Special design attention was given to sunlines for producing passive solar heating and sightlines to capture views from each room. On one or other degree, all four faces of The Mudcastle are graced with interesting joinery, superbly crafted in native timbers by Michael Bender of Riverside Joinery.