Mairenui Rural Retreat

We stayed here for a birthday celebration, taking up almost all of the facility, so this review is a reflection of a variety of opinions. Firstly, the various 'locations' are in three distinct areas with the local road intersecting them. If you are staying as a couple then this probabily won't matter, but for us it came as a surprise and meant a bit of coming and going for some in our group. The villa is definatly "old School' and may come as a bit of a shock to some. Even though we were here in summer the nights were cool/cold. We had to light the fire both nights....Yes an open fire that you have to work at.....comes as a surprise to those who are used to a heat pump. The ceiling are very high and the windows small. meaning it is dark in there, even when it's bright sunlight outside. We also had some un-invited guests, of the fury, long tailed variety. Our fault no doubt for leaving food out, but country life!!! (and this is not imagined as we saw them). The other property is 'quirky' at best. I can imagine some people not being comfortable in there at all, as the sleeping areas have open spaces so private conversations, aren't. Also, for those of us who stayed there, hot water would have been nice.....there was none! You probabily think that we didn't enjoy our time here, well that's wrong. Far from it, we loved being away from everything and stepping back in time to when houses like this were the norm. But if you think you'd miss your mod con's then perhaps this isn't the spot for you.

Wow....so much history in this place. Felt like staying in a museum. Matt set up a lovely fire for us on arrival. His wife Leonie keeps the place super clean. Sue and Dave are the loveliest couple we met at breakfast. She even catered for my gluten free diet. If you want to escape the hassle and bassle this is your retreat!

My wife and I stayed on a freezing frosty night. We found the accommodation functional and warm with all we required. David and Sue are wonderful hosts, the meals and conversations were most enjoyable and it was enlightening to learn so much history about the area.