This winter I’m staying put in Blenheim. Close friends have a hard time believing this as every year in June I’ve usually left town; either on a road trip, a city fix, or an escape to the sun. As much as I love living in this magnificent region, changing it up is essential for a fresh mindset and re-newed energy when spring rolls around. But this year is different. The past couple of years have been tough as the Covid crisis ground tourism to a halt. No-one was spared the pandemic reality. It forced our hand to re-evaluate our lives in a tonne of different ways; how we live, work, play, pairing back, home-grown and our beliefs about who and what is important to us. This year (at last) New Zealand is open for business and tourism is on again. Internationals are booking holidays down-under and enquiries are rolling in for next season. Marking time hasn’t been fun and right now I am out loud excited about the movement forward for the industry!

I’m out loud excited too, to be hosting our first wedding in January 2023.  My eldest is getting married and 120 friends and family will fly in from Auckland and overseas for a several days of celebration in Marlborough.  We all love a wedding right? And none more so than for our own children.  I will be a MOG (mother of the groom)! Suffice to say I’ve slipped in to wedding planning mode; a marquee in the park and the myriad details surrounding a destination wedding.   

With a flurry of activity on the horizon there is renewed focus and work to get on with in the garden; pruning, preparation for new lawn, hard landscaping, outdoor lighting installation and the addition of an outdoor pavilion with fireplace which will take entertaining to a whole new level as well as solve the ‘weather dependent’ issue for gatherings.  

During the quiet of this winter there is much to be done and new optimism that our lives (and businesses) are getting back to normal. Staying home has never felt so good🏡