Olde Mill House B&B
Renwick - Marlborough
Over the last few months we have been giving the car parking area a facelift
We have extended the parking area changed some of the garden, and sneaked in seven new standard roses.  We have done away with the gravel and laid asphalt to make a nice smooth surface.
My grandsons would have loved it while the diggers etc were here as they are all mad on diggers.
I am only now in the right space to let you know that both of my Border Collie dogs have now passed away.
Rosie, who was Vinnies’ mother had been gradually getting less mobile, she was suffering from a spine complaint where her back legs would give out on her. It was a very hard decision, but at the beginning of July we decided to put her to rest. She was just over 14 years old. I miss having my dogs and many of my past guests would have fond memories of playing with both Vinnie (the great retriever) and Rosie (the gentle old lady) in the back yard.  RIP.
Over the last few months I have been on a mission to get a large ornamental pot for the garden. We had looked in Auckland and Christchurch, but couldnt really find “the one” I have been looking for. Early this month, we went out for a drive and decided to call at the local “Pot Shed”, on Rapaura Road and whalla – the pot I have been searching high and low for.  Apparently it originates from Thailand and goes through  a special process to get it looking this way.
I have now reorganised the front decking and “the pot” has its new home, andI love it.
Hi, well its coming up to that time of year again. Oh so quickly the time has gone, but if you are wanting to come to Marlborough for our annual Hunters ‘ Garden Marlborough, whether it be for the workshops, garden tours or wind up fete, you will need to book your accommodation soon. As tickets are now on sale
Here at Olde Mill House we still have availability for anyone wanting a little bit of luxury at a reasonable price along with relaxation in a peaceful garden setting.   I am adding a few pics of areas in my garden where you can relax and enjoy the setting.
Hi, we have just returned from our annual prilgrimage to Auckland to visit our daughters and grandchildren.
This year we decided to take a bit of extra time and visit the Bay of Plenty area. On our way up we stopped at Palmerston North at a self-contained B&B called the Loft. If you are in the area we highly recommend it. From there we headed
across to Whakatane but actually stayed at Ohope Beach at the Top 10 Camping Ground in a motel unit adjacent to the beach. This was lovely with the sunrises and sunsets and just strolling on the beach. We stayed here for three nights. We had wanted to go to White Island which is about 50 ks off the coast of Whakatane but the weather was not king enough and the seas were a bit rough. I’m not a good sailor. Instead we did a day trip back to Rotorua and went to Hells’ Gate – the thermal mud baths. This was a lot of fun but the cold shower, in spring fed water, between the mud bath and the spa, was very exhilerating to say the least. Three days in this area went very fast and it was time to head to Auckland.
Here we had a lovely time visiting the family and doing activities with the grandchildren which included going into the city, on the ferry form the North Shore, to the Sky Tower (some 200 meters up – not exactly my favourite thing to do especially when there were bungy jumpers going passed the window about every 5 minutes or so), movies and a day trip to Davenport for lunch and then up to North Head park where the boys did some grass tabogganing. We also got to go to all the boys Saturday sport. Two play rugby and the other football and they were all at different venues, which took a bit of organising on my daughters part as her husband was away at a conference.Â
As usual, this time also went very fast and it was time to head home again.
Well we are almost into August. Things have been a little quiet over the last couple of months,but this has enabled us to do a bit of Spring Cleaning and refurbishing  of the Heritage room ensuite by giving it a fresh coat of paint, changing the colour to a nice warm grey, so we hope that you will like the change if you get to stay in this room.  
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We have again been busy in the cottage garden doing our annual pruning and adding an extension to one garden and making another smaller to accommodate extra parking area. We are now waiting for the tradespeople to come and reseal the parking area for us.  We have narrowed the  garden by the garage and changed it into another rose garden. I love my roses. There will be four new Double Delight standard roses in this garden and three Blackberry Nip standards in front of the new parking area. We have also added a row of paeony roses up the side of the cottage garden. Unfortunately no photos yet to show this as they are still underground.
Lets hope that they all flower this spring/summer and we should get an amazing display.