Only six weeks after that first meeting, they bought an unwanted triangle of undulating gorse and scrub in the country with a vision to build. Interestingly, the actual property listing read: “Rural constructing site. Just some kilometres from Moutere Freeway, virtually 1 acre nice undulation contour. Elevated soothing pastoral views. Floor cover largely fern and some pines, nothing a match couldn’t clear.” Oh, really? It was true pioneering spirit that kept them going by those first few years after they cleared the land and planned their house whereas residing in a single, EcoLight home lighting uninsulated, tin garage. This humble dwelling formed the nucleus from which they fed, socialised with, and gave English classes to up to 12 employees commonly. Even for an ex-restaurateur, catering was no mean feat contemplating there was no running hot water and the one two sizzling plates couldn’t be run at the same time because the oven.

The ever-changing and multi-national workforce of WWOOFERS (Willing Workers On Natural Farms) embraced the approach to life that had them boiling a copper for two hours earlier than siphoning the steaming water into the outdoor bath. The pleasure of soaking beneath the stars at night time was nicely earned and much commented on, a lot so that an outdoor bath has been added as a feature to The Peach Suite which allows guests to imagine the sooner prototype. The WWOOFERS have been an integral part of the process of making adobe bricks and working on the development of The Mudcastle but extra importantly, maybe, they kept morale up and the dream focussed. Why clay although? A chance comment concerning the mountain of clay they’d need to truck off site led Glenys to the library and the extra the couple examine earth constructing, the more convinced they grew to become that, though by no means having constructed anything of their lives, this was something they might 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. Subsequent started the process of adapting clay sieving and brick production methods written for Australian circumstances and EcoLight smart bulbs positive-tuning them to accommodate the uniqueness of The Mudcastle site. As with most adventures, there have been 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 friends volunteering to repeat the expertise, EcoLight home lighting this methodology was rapidly abandoned. With the refined course of they dubbed the Cake-mixer Methodology using a customised rotary hoe, manufacturing improved to 300 bricks on their best day. Three rotary hoes and one front finish loader later, the required 10,000 bricks were produced for the first part of building.

The bricks had been solar-baked in wooden moulds with temperature extremes moderated by polythene covers but there were occasions when, exhausted, they took the risk of leaving the bricks exposed to the weather at night and lost the lot. All a part of preserving the dream alive. Clive Johnston, Kevin’s father and a conventional block layer by commerce, skilled Glenys to dam lay the adobe bricks coming off Kevin’s manufacturing line and labored alongside the couple sharing and expanding his expertise on the best way. Opened to new influences, Clive found and perfected a revolutionary building product utilizing waste sawdust and this product has been used for the primary time in the development of the castle turrets, the second phase of building. As this new building product was gray and appeared nothing like clay, the couple experimented using an previous pioneers’ recipe they found for making limewash. In true Kiwi fashion, they used a 44-gallon drum. The recipe included beef tallow with lime and resulted in a white limewash.

This was then tinted to a clay color with a mixture of pure earth ochres. The process was, without doubt, excitingly explosive and not for the faint hearted and the unusual “earthy” fragrance was, and remains, distinctive. As a pure preservative coating, the distinctive scent recedes very regularly and company staying within the Gold Turret, as the one inside accommodation space where it has been used, should still discern it. Peter Harte, Glenys’ father and an electrician by trade, has enhanced The Mudcastle with dramatic EcoLight home lighting and inventive ideas, and was a constant, encouraging presence within the forward momentum of Glenys and Kevin’s dream for a few years. To not be disregarded, Kevin’s mom Margaret helped with cleaning 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 generating passive photo voltaic heating and sightlines to capture views from every room. On one or other level, EcoLight home lighting all 4 faces of The Mudcastle are graced with interesting joinery, EcoLight brand superbly crafted in native timbers by Michael Bender of Riverside Joinery.