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Accommodation Information |
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Our Story - "From Lettuce, to Lilies to Luxury"
Join us at Adrift and experience the beauty and history of our little 'slice of paradise'...
Our beach-side accommodation is very much a family operated holiday resort and is run on a daily basis by four of our family - Bess, Gordon, Emily and John. In summer two more of our adult children, Naomi and Jordan, join us.
I, Bess, am Canadian born and Gordon hails from the north of England. We met and married in Canada and set off in 1980 with babe in arms to live in New Zealand, sight unseen! Our first two years were spent in the Bay of Plenty on the North Island where Gordon was teaching science, computing, and maths at a High School. It was here that he heard of a job being offered in Nelson - he applied and was accepted and that set in motion where we are today.
After searching unsuccessfully for land for two years in the Nelson area, we discovered this 10 acre block of undeveloped beachfront property in Golden Bay in the spring of 1984 and 'knew' we had come home. Our initial dream, and following project was market gardening - hence the lettuce!
During this time, Gordon was also teaching part time, building our home and helping to raise the then three of our four children. However, in 1991 his teaching job was made redundant and we needed a new source of income. The most unlikely answer to our prayer was being divinely told to 'grow lilies'! So 'Lilies in Bloom' was birthed and grew into a successful business over the next fifteen years, seeing our bulbs sent throughout NZ and the world. It was an awesome sight to see thousands of flowering lilies growing beside the beach, but there were better things to come...
In 2001, we built an addition to our home as a guest room for my father for when he would come to visit from Canada, but sadly he passed away before he saw it completed. We now had a 'room with a view' that needed someone to appreciate it! So on Boxing Day of 2002 we opened our luxury beachfront B&B and launched ourselves into the wonderful world of hospitality. When our daughter, Emily and her husband, John and baby Coco arrived to live and work here in 2003, it soon became apparent that we needed more than the lilies to sustain us all. After receiving very encouraging feedback and realizing the staggering popularity of our B&B, we sold the lily business and built five beautiful, self contained, luxury cottages.
We have met so many amazing people with whom we feel very privileged to have been able to share what we've been given. Our hope is that you will come and enjoy it too!
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