Only six weeks after that first assembly, they purchased an undesirable triangle of undulating gorse and scrub within the country with a vision to build. Curiously, the real estate itemizing read: "Rural constructing site. Just a few kilometres from Moutere Highway, virtually 1 acre nice undulation contour. Elevated soothing pastoral views. Floor cowl principally fern and a few pines, nothing a match couldn't clear." Oh, actually? It was true pioneering spirit that kept them going by means of these first few years once they cleared the land and deliberate their home while dwelling 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 staff recurrently. Even for an ex-restaurateur, catering was no imply feat considering there was no working scorching water and the one two scorching plates couldn't be run at the same time as the oven.

The ever-changing and multi-national workforce of WWOOFERS (Keen Staff On Organic Farms) embraced the lifestyle that had them boiling a copper for 2 hours before siphoning the steaming water into the outside bath. The pleasure of soaking underneath the stars at night time was well earned and far commented on, so much so that an outside bath has been added as a function to The Peach Suite which allows guests to imagine the sooner prototype. The WWOOFERS had been an integral part of the process of constructing adobe bricks and working on the construction of The Mudcastle but more importantly, maybe, they kept morale up and the dream focussed. Why clay although? A chance remark about the mountain of clay they'd have to truck off site led Glenys to the library and the extra the couple examine earth building, the more convinced they became that, although never having built something of their lives, this was one thing they may do.

As a bonus, it was discovered that the clay on their property had the ideal 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 point of difference for The Mudcastle. Subsequent started the strategy of adapting clay sieving and brick production methods written for Australian situations and fantastic-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, textbook foot-stomping methodology was used. Still hobbling three days later for a pitiful yield of 70 bricks, and fast running out of pals volunteering to repeat the experience, this technique was rapidly abandoned. With the refined course of they dubbed the Cake-mixer Methodology utilizing a customised rotary hoe, manufacturing improved to 300 bricks on their finest day. Three rotary hoes and one entrance end loader later, the required 10,000 bricks had been produced for the primary part of building.

The bricks had been sun-baked in wooden moulds with temperature extremes moderated by polythene covers however there were events when, exhausted, they took the danger of leaving the bricks uncovered to the weather at night and lost the lot. All part of retaining the dream alive. Clive Johnston, Kevin's father and a standard block layer by commerce, educated Glenys to dam lay the adobe bricks coming off Kevin's production line and worked alongside the couple sharing and increasing his expertise on the way. Opened to new influences, Clive discovered and perfected a revolutionary building product using waste sawdust and this product has been used for the primary time in the construction of the castle turrets, the second section of constructing. As this new constructing product was gray and appeared nothing like clay, the couple experimented using an old pioneers’ recipe they found for EcoLight products making limewash. In true Kiwi fashion, they used a 44-gallon drum. The recipe incorporated beef tallow with lime and resulted in a white limewash.

This was then tinted to a clay color with a mixture of natural earth ochres. The method was, doubtless, excitingly explosive and never for the faint hearted and the unusual "earthy" fragrance was, and stays, distinctive. As a pure preservative coating, the unique scent recedes very gradually and guests staying in the Gold Turret, as the only inside accommodation space the place it has been used, may still discern it. Peter Harte, Glenys' father and an electrician by commerce, has enhanced The Mudcastle with dramatic lighting and artistic concepts, and was a relentless, encouraging presence in the ahead momentum of Glenys and Kevin's dream for many years. To not be disregarded, Kevin’s mom Margaret helped with cleansing and baking and Glenys’ mother manned a second sewing machine to make curtains for the principle turret. Particular design consideration was given to sunlines for EcoLight producing passive photo voltaic heating and sightlines to capture views from every room. On one or other level, all four faces of The Mudcastle are graced with fascinating joinery, superbly crafted in native timbers by Michael Bender of Riverside Joinery.

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Pub: 08 Aug 2025 07:43 UTC

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