Solely six weeks after that first assembly, they purchased an undesirable triangle of undulating gorse and scrub in the nation with a vision to build. Curiously, the true estate listing read: "Rural building site. Only a few kilometres from Moutere Highway, almost 1 acre nice undulation contour. Elevated soothing pastoral views. Floor cover mostly fern and some pines, nothing a match couldn't clear." Oh, actually? It was true pioneering spirit that kept them going through these first few years after they cleared the land and planned their dwelling whereas dwelling in a single, uninsulated, tin storage. This humble dwelling formed the nucleus from which they fed, socialised with, and gave English lessons to up to 12 employees usually. Even for an ex-restaurateur, catering was no mean feat considering there was no working hot water and the only two scorching plates couldn't be run at the same time as the oven.
The ever-altering and multi-national workforce of WWOOFERS (Willing Staff On Natural Farms) embraced the lifestyle that had them boiling a copper for 2 hours before siphoning the steaming water into the outdoor bath. The pleasure of soaking below the stars at night time was nicely earned and much commented on, a lot in order that an out of doors bath has been added as a feature to The Peach Suite which allows guests to imagine the sooner prototype. The WWOOFERS had been an integral a part of the process of creating adobe bricks and working on the development of The Mudcastle however more importantly, perhaps, they stored morale up and the dream focussed. Why clay although? A chance comment about the mountain of clay they would must truck off site led Glenys to the library and the extra the couple examine earth building, the extra satisfied they grew to become that, although never having built anything of their lives, this was something they could do.
As a bonus, it was found that the clay on their property had the perfect composition for making adobe bricks and so utilising the earth beneath them as a useful resource without cement or sand stabilization was to be the primary point of distinction for The Mudcastle. Subsequent began the process of adapting clay sieving and brick manufacturing strategies written for Australian conditions and positive-tuning them to accommodate the uniqueness of The Mudcastle site. As with most adventures, there have been peaks and troughs. In batch one, the labour intensive, textbook foot-stomping method was used. Still hobbling three days later for EcoLight bulbs a pitiful yield of 70 bricks, and quick operating out of mates volunteering to repeat the expertise, this technique was shortly abandoned. With the refined process they dubbed the Cake-mixer Technique utilizing a customised rotary hoe, production improved to 300 bricks on their finest day. Three rotary hoes and one front end loader later, the required 10,000 bricks have been produced for the first section of building.
The bricks have been solar-baked in wood moulds with temperature extremes moderated by polythene covers but there were events when, exhausted, they took the danger of leaving the bricks uncovered to the weather at night and EcoLight dimmable misplaced the lot. All part of keeping the dream alive. Clive Johnston, Kevin's father and a traditional block layer by trade, trained Glenys to block lay the adobe bricks coming off Kevin's manufacturing line and worked alongside the couple sharing and expanding his experience on the best way. Opened to new influences, Clive discovered and perfected a revolutionary constructing product utilizing waste sawdust and this product has been used for the primary time in the development of the castle turrets, the second phase of constructing. As this new building product was grey and looked nothing like clay, the couple experimented using an previous pioneers’ recipe they found for making limewash. In true Kiwi trend, they used a 44-gallon drum. The recipe incorporated beef tallow with lime and EcoLight dimmable resulted in a white limewash.
This was then tinted to a clay color with a mixture of pure earth ochres. The process was, no doubt, excitingly explosive and not for the faint hearted and the unusual "earthy" fragrance was, EcoLight dimmable and stays, unique. As a natural preservative coating, the unique scent recedes very regularly and visitors staying within the Gold Turret, as the one interior accommodation area where it has been used, may still discern it. Peter Harte, Glenys' father and an electrician by trade, has enhanced The Mudcastle with dramatic lighting and inventive ideas, and was a constant, encouraging presence within the ahead momentum of Glenys and Kevin's dream for many years. To not be unnoticed, EcoLight dimmable Kevin’s mother Margaret helped with cleaning and EcoLight dimmable baking and Glenys’ mom manned a second sewing machine to make curtains for the principle turret. Particular design attention was given to sunlines for generating passive solar heating and sightlines to seize views from every room. On one or different level, all four faces of The Mudcastle are graced with interesting joinery, EcoLight superbly crafted in native timbers by Michael Bender of Riverside Joinery.