Take three talented furniture makers and one entrepreneurial farmer and you've all the makings for a swish new interior at the Masterton Homestead Tavern.
Owner Trust House wanted the upgrade the Tavern's Still Bar to be achieved by local labour and sourced Jeremy Bicknell, Alistair Dickson and Derek Melser, all well-known
for their furniture-making prowess to make the new tables, chairs and benches.
It's been a full-on two month job for the trio who made altogether 20 chairs, 15 leaner tables, 50 stools, seven dining tables and two outdoor benches.
But of what timber? Enter Michael Atkinson, a retired south Wairarapa farmer who has for the past 10 years been milling ancient swamp totara out of the Manawatu River.
This attractive, grey toned native timber has proven its value for joiners and furniture-makers and Mr Atkinson says he's sending it far and wide throughout New Zealand.
A feather in his cap was the use of his timber in an award winning house of the year in Auckland, which won the $1.5million category.
An active man from years of farming at Pirinoa, when he "retired" at age 60, he first moved to Gladstone and then to Masterton. A stint at commercial eeling had brought him face to face with old totara logs embedded in the Ruamahunga River.
Captivated by its beauty as a solid timber, he spent two years fighting red tape to get the rights to mill logs from the Manawatu River.
He had learnt of the swamp totara laying in multiple layers "like dead soldiers" in the massive riverbed, victims of major flash floods 2000 to 4000 years ago.
Mr Atkinson and his team began with bulldozers but quickly learnt large heavy-duty diggers were needed.
He has milled just over 3km each side of the Fitzherbert Bridge spanning the Manawatu River and reckons he's only touched the tip of the iceberg in totara supplies.
Horizons Regional Council has indicated to him that the trees are believed to lay around 20m deep.
Tavern manager Cindy Stewart said patrons were blown away with the new decor and the timber has become a real talking point between beers.
