Lancewood Villa is a sustainable permaculture farm

We fell in love with this property at first sight and we think you’ll see why. The old farm buildings, rolling hills, olive groves and vineyards reminded us of holidays in the Mediterranean and revived childhood memories of growing up in the New Zealand countryside. We are stewards of this beautiful piece of land which we care for deeply and love to share with our guests.

Permaculture Farming

We lovingly tend to our land at Lancewood Villa and grow much of our own food in our extensive vegetable gardens, orchards and pastures.

What We Grow

This region is blessed with a sunny climate, perfect for growing a wide range of fruits and vegetables. We have planted organic gardens and orchards based on permaculture farming principles which means we grow a wide array of our own food including things like heritage apples, pears, apricots, peaches, plums, pomegranates, persimmons, medlars, quinces, figs, grapes, lemons, grapefruit, tea, berries, chestnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, macadamias, pinenuts, tomatoes, beans, artichokes, lettuce, potatoes, zucchinis, herbs, corn, garlic, fennel, onions, kale, cabbages, celeriac, parsnips, silverbeet…the list feels endless even to us!

Making Olive Oil

Our Olive harvest is one very special crop at Lancewood Villa. We grow, hand pick and cold-press our own very beautiful extra virgin olive oil that gets used in our cooking all year long.

Our olive oil is available for guests to enjoy - we sell bottles at our shop at the villa - it’s a true taste of what our land yields.

Animal Husbandry

Even our beautiful red chickens and gentle donkeys are an important part of this sustainable system.

They take care of our pasture, create valuable fertilizer for the land and are pretty delightful company to boot.

Reforestation

We are working hard to preserve and extend our precious patch of native bush. We hope to return much of our pasture to forest over time.

Planting Native Trees

We have a beautiful area of New Zealand native forest near the main Villa which has survived tree felling, farming and orcharding over the past 150 years. We have worked hard to extend this natural habitat and aim to replant much of the farm in native trees. We have a QEII covenant on our forest which means it can never be felled and we recently received a government grant to help with our reforestation programme, in recognition of the work we are doing. Our guests are welcome to explore our little haven.

We received assistance from the New Zealand Government’s One Billion Trees Programme from 2020 to 2022 and over recent years we have received support from Trees That Count - a national charity that mobilises businesses, planters and individuals to restore Aotearoa’s unique biodiversity, take action on climate risk and grow a brighter future through the planting of native trees.

In 2021 we were featured on the Tasman Environment Trust website in recognition of our work to restore the native habitat on our farm.

Upper Moutere school helping out with native tree planting 2019

Our Natural Pool

The pool we have built is naturally filtered by water lilies and sun warmed, it is completely chemical-free and surrounded by beautiful water gardens.

Chemical-Free Swimming

Our guests have access to a stunning non-heated chemical free natural pool. It’s like having your very own perfect river swimming hole.

In the summer months the Upper Moutere’s warm climate and high sunshine hours warm up the pool to perfection. With its sun catching stone terrace and pool side loungers, it’s the ideal spot for a morning dip before you head out for the day or for catching the late afternoon sun with a glass of wine.

Sustainable Practices

We are committed to making a difference in all the small and large ways we can think of. We go lightly on the earth.

What we do:

Sustainable Infrastructure

We generate as much energy from the sun as we can through our photovoltaic panels.
We have a three phase Electric Vehicle charging station (type II plug) available for guests.
Our pool is a natural pool built by http://naturalpoolsnz.com – no chlorine and no chemicals – it’s all about keeping it clean and natural!
Our Biowaste system is a clever way to deal with our grey water and sewerage, it is safely processed using coconut filters and worms,
Our water is sourced from our well and the rainwater we collect is safely filtered, with no added chemicals.
We compost organic waste and use it to help grow our gardens.

Sustainable Products

Our soap is not wrapped in plastic and is handmade with all natural products by Nelson-based Global Soap NZ .
We provide re-usable shopping bags for guests.
All bedding is either 100% natural cotton or linen.
Our in-room tea and coffee supplies are organic and fair trade and with biodegradable packaging.
We stock local organic wine for sale to our guests.
All our in-room and kitchen paper products are from the Green Cane company.
We encourage guests to minimise waste by refilling water bottles from our filtered water supply, sorting rubbish for recycling glass, paper, tin and plastics; compost where possible.
Our cleaning is chemical free using Enjo products.
We support local eco-friendly businesses: pottery, weaving, food and wine.

Carbon Offsetting

We work to protect and extend our small remnant of native forest and its insect and bird life – all sales from our small souvenir shop (all our Lancewood cushion covers and tea towel are designed and handmade here at Lancewood Villa) contribute to purchasing native eco-sourced seedlings to extend our native forest
We encourage guests to plant a tree in recognition that the world needs more trees to offset our ‘carbon footprint’ and to mark their stay at Lancewood Villa! … We provide the tree; guests provide the person-power