Your Place | In The Valley

The best homes are the ones that have the ability to make you feel as if you’re bunkered up in the bush on your own personal retreat, even when you’re five minutes from the city…

Down a long driveway, nestled in the valley, perched half way up the hill and neighbours to Mount Taranaki is the adorable little Lockwood home of Natalie and Ryan. Natalie is a florist and Ryan works offshore, spending six weeks at a time between Australia and home. The house itself makes up a very tactile palette; aged wood, buttery-yellow walls, checkered floors and a mossy-green carpet – all suitable materials for an ideal valley retreat.

One of the house’s best moments is spent out on the deck which looks out to the mighty Mount Taranaki with its snow-capped peak looking out from underneath a cloak of clouds. Inside, the kitchen plays host to a beautiful old table with mismatched chairs, home to many friends and many Mexican feasts. The kitchen sills are lined with herbs and delicate pink cups peek out from the cupboards.

Slow in pace, with coffee made regularly and new blooms being picked, ‘In The Valley’ is the kind of home you could spend days just pottering around in; eating and reading, lying in the light, simply sitting and thinking alongside that big old mountain. It really does feel like a retreat, but perhaps a more personal one, ready to offer you whatever you came for with books, sewing machines, vegetable gardens and light. Above all it is a home to people and pups and a seasonal rotation of fragrant wild flowers.

See more from ‘In The Valley’ photographed by Ophelia King [here]