Fiona Blakeley and Jason Reynolds have plans for Willowbank Farm Stay in Waverley. Photo / Paul Brooks
Life is starting anew for Auckland couple Fiona Blakeley and Jason Reynolds.
They have returned to Fiona's home town of Waverley to take over her parents' farmstay accommodation business.
Jason hails from Pukekohe.
Marie and John Deadman arrived at Willowbank about 20 years ago, converting the 2.8 hectare property from a frozen food factory to a home and gardens.
Twelve years ago they branched out, adapting the buildings for holiday accommodation.
Marie says their accountant didn't think it was such a good idea, but after the first year he had to apologise.
"It's just grown and grown," says Fiona, but she and Jason are looking at expanding into more than just accommodation.
"Jason and I decided to get out of Auckland. It took us a year because we had a house to finish and sell and I had a hairdressing salon up there. I sold it at the beginning of April."
Fiona started the salon in Patumahoe three years ago after more than 15 years working in education for a hairdressing company. That job meant she was away from home a lot.
Her passion is horses - she rides competition dressage - so she started the salon to give her life some stability and enable her to spend more time with her horses.
"It didn't happen. The salon went huge and I was working sometimes six days a week with three or four late nights and all day Saturday. My plan didn't succeed in the respect that I didn't get the time I wanted but I had a very successful business."
All of that plus an ongoing battle with rheumatoid arthritis meant Fiona was looking for other possibilities.
"Mum and Dad are both in their 70s and they talked about winding this [Willowbank] up so I could see an opportunity here."
Fiona asked her mother how she would feel if she and Jason moved from Auckland to take over the farmstay business. Her parents were keen and so it happened.
That means Jason will have to leave his steel mill job at Waiuku but the new enterprise will keep them both very busy. They have plans for the future of Willowbank.
They intend to take over the business with the new financial year - to keep the bookwork tidy - so Fiona and Jason are working under contract to Marie and John in the meantime.
When Midweek arrived last Friday, a large group of guests in town for a wedding were packing up to travel home. In spite of such activity, the place seemed tranquil, with just the occasional burst of laughter to interrupt the birdsong.
The wedding was at Nukumaru but the wedding photos were taken in the gardens at Willowbank.
Fiona would like the see the place used as venue for wedding ceremonies as well.
Fiona is still a hairdresser, working mobile, visiting clients in their homes rather than running a salon, but she does plan to equip a salon at Willowbank.
She also has her horses; all four of them, grazing in a paddock on the property and well cared for by vet Bill Stewart and farrier Peter Hackett, both from Whanganui.
Are they pleased to be out of Auckland?
"I don't miss the place at all," says Fiona.
She was born and raised in Waverley.
"I lived here until I was 16. I used to ride racehorses; my ambition was to be a jockey. I have ridden ponies since I was four ... and my parents weren't even horsey."
She attended Carlyle Pony Club for years and got into riding race horses through Kevin Gray (a local trainer of international fame) when she was 12.
"He had Copper Belt and decided to bring him out of retirement. I was really tiny and Kevin thought I'd be perfect to ride Copper Belt ... and next thing I was riding track work every morning before school."
She also rode for Allan Lupton when she left school.
A steeplechase accident and five weeks in New Plymouth Hospital put paid to a possible career. She was told she would never ride again - but she does, although jumping is out of the question.
"I just do dressage and showing."
At 16 she took on hairdressing training and completed a six month course at David Bradford Hairdressing College in Christchurch before taking on an apprenticeship in Whanganui.
She completed her training, took a three month OE in England then settled in Sydney for four years.
"I opened my first salon in Mosman."
The next move was to Auckland where she became a hairdressing educator. Now she and Jason are looking at a future in Waverley with a whole new set of plans.
"Still going to do hairdressing, maybe a couple of days a week, build up the clientele, run this place as well and fit the horses somewhere in between."
The rooms at Willowbank are mostly big, so there is plenty of scope for the extensive remodelling plans the couple has.
"We'll just do a bit at a time," says Fiona.
Decorations for a recent Western-themed party remained in place, including a sign and facade for Deadman's Saloon. Somehow, it didn't look out of place.
The gardens are huge, with established trees and lots of al fresco "rooms". Fishponds, sculptures, garden knick-knacks and oddities abound, giving the whole property an interesting aspect.
"People always comment on the gardens," says Fiona.
A yellow wooden aeroplane - the work of Fiona's father, John - hangs from a tree. Jason got in it for the photo.