More home: the guest cabin

I cheated a bit and took this shot yesterday, because the forecast for today was shocking. The forecast was right…

The guest cabin was a bunk-hut when I moved here. It contained two built-in single bunks on one side and a queen sized one on the other side with a single above it, with just the width of the doorway between each side. It would have been very cramped with five people sleeping in there.

I removed all four bunks (and used the wood to make planter boxes), painted the bile green walls a very pale cream colour, and insulated the floor using tacked-down yoga mats over which I laid rugs.

With a queen-sized bed, a small chest of drawers, a chair and some bookshelves made out of wooden drawers, some paintings and clothes hooks, it was all set for guests.

Outside I planted strawberries in a planter on one side of the deck and sweet peas on the other. A grapevine is gradually spreading across the sunny side and will eventually be trained right across the front above the door. The table, chair and one of Bean’s beds complete the picture.

For three years it was sleeping accommodation for bed and breakfast guests, which I loved. I had some wonderful visitors from all over the world. New friends were made aplenty. People from the USA, UK, France, Germany, China, Australia, New Caledonia, South Africa, Canada, Switzerland, Denmark and heaps from other parts of NZ.

I offered guests the opportunity to share an evening meal with me, always home made and mostly home-grown. It was wonderful to stretch myself more in the kitchen to create some really interesting dishes. And it was even more wonderful to spend long evenings sharing food, stories and laughter with new friends.

The food was universally appreciated…except for one gentleman who, after he’d demolished a meal I’d spent much of the afternoon crafting, brazenly told me his favourite meal is from a well known fast-food outlet. I was aghast, although I plastered a good-hostess smile on my face.

But then along came Covid and eventually I made the decision to close, thanks mostly to social distancing restrictions placed on Airbnbs across the world, which were impossible to put into practice here because of the shared small bathroom and kitchen/dining spaces.

There are a few ex-bnb visitors who come to stay each year, but the guest cabin is now mostly used by friends. And on hot summer afternoons it is the perfect place for a girl and her dog to lie down and have a nap.

The extra is the view from the guest deck: the best view on the property.

Questions?