About Us

We, Iris and John are 4th generation New Zealanders and are proud of our stunning country New Zealand; or Aotearoa in the Maori (indigenous) language. The Maori translation of Aotearoa translates into The Land of the Long White Cloud: According to oral tradition, the daughter of explorer Kupe saw white on the horizon and called "He ao! He ao!" ("a cloud! a cloud!"). The first land sighted was accordingly named Aotea (White Cloud). Hence Aotearoa- The Land of the Long White Cloud.

We have been married a LONG time, and have two favourite sons who recently have moved to Brisbane in Australia. We miss them much but text and talk often.

Due to John’s career in banking we have lived in many areas around New Zealand. Consequently we know our country well and can advise you on your itinerary if required. John retired while here in Hawke’s Bay which is one ofNew Zealand’s BEST places to live with a fantastic climate - usually. Known as the Fruit Bowl of New Zealand where we grow almost every variety of fruit, we are also one of New Zealand’s leading producers of many award winning wines. (Hawke’s Bay Wine Country).

John is now a full time artist and if you are interested you are most welcome to visit his up-stairs LOFT studio where he has originals in acrylic and watercolour along with cards and prints of his works. He is passionate about his subjects - New Zealand landscape and way of life, historic buildings and architecture. He undertakes commissions and in 2009 was thrilled to be selected and featured in the new art book, “New Zealand on Canvas”.

Iris has been involved in several businesses over the years. She enjoys the challenge of following her heart and creating businesses from her many ideas. The last venture was A Taste of New Zealand which was sold in 2006 after 13.5 years. Her passion was in packaging and enjoyed creating beautiful gift boxes of the best of New Zealand’s artisan foods along with our world-class wine. These were sent world wide and orders were received from all corners of the world.

We have a garden that you may like to visit, we won an award a couple of years back for the landscape design. Planted with many natives to attract the birds means we have Bell Birds and Tuis along with wax-eyes playing regularly. 

We love to travel and most years go somewhere exotic in the world. Plans are always in place – mainly by Iris! So it is quite likely that we will have something in common with our guests in the places that we have visited.

We both love meeting all of the wonderful guests who come to stay with us in our bed and breakfast. Whether they are from New Zealand or overseas, our guests will receive a very warm welcome into our home that we planned and purpose built for B&B, doing most of the finishing ourselves.

So, come and be pampered in our little piece of paradise; You will be our focus during your stay and we will endeavour to assist you in anyway possible, we are positive that you will not be disappointed that you came to stay in Havelock North at The Loft Art Studio and Bed and Breakfast.

Recently we were filmed by a documentary maker from Korea - arranged by New Zealand Tourism - who were filming a documentary called 'Walking the World'. They had a meal with us and stayed the night after filming us in our surrounds. This has been shown to Millions of people in Korea.

Iris and John