I was so excited for my stay at Apple Pickers’ Cottagers and it more than lived up to its promises of relaxation and peacefulness. I stayed in Karaka cottage on my own for four nights after Easter and didn’t want to leave. Homely and welcoming, the cottage is very comfortable with plenty of places to sit, inside and out, and take in the beautiful views out over the estuary to Mapua, Bronte peninsula and to the mountains in the distance. As an avid home cook, I very much appreciated the well equipped kitchen and Elspeth generously sharing her produce from her organic vegetable garden and fruit trees. Elspeth was a wonderful host: very welcoming, always happy to chat if you wanted too and offered great advice on the area, tailored to my interests.
At my request she even showed me around her wonderful property: the organic vegetable garden, the restoration of the bird habitat on the peninsula’s foreshore that Elspeth and Kim are admirably undertaking, the native trees that they have planted as well as many different fruit trees including a handful of the original apple trees that once graced the peninsula 60 years ago and from which the cottages get their name.
If you want to get out and about, the cottages are in an excellent and central location, about halfway between Nelson and beautiful Kaiteriteri (also the gateway to the Abel Tasman National Park), a short drive to Mapua village and not far from some great wineries and artisan producers scattered throughout the countryside in Upper Moutere.
Oh and the outside bath was just magic – definitely worth a stay in this cute cottage just for this indulgence.