We recently moved closer to the city, from a lifestyle block about 25 minutes south of Whangarei.
My wife and I - and more recently our son - had lived there for about five years and we enjoyed the tranquillity. But it takes a lot of work, money and time to maintain this type of property. So I was pleased to make the shift into town.
We never worked our lifestyle block as a business but I could see the costs mounting and the amount of money spent on the gear required just to keep on top of the basics was substantial.
I can understand, then, why some people want to formally set up their blocks as a business so that they can try to claim some of these expenses.
Over the years, I've seen a drop in the number of lifestyle blocks operating as farm businesses.