Your hosts, Marita & Keith Draper have been nutters for some time now. Originally from Wales, we emigrated to New Zealand in 1982 and, apart from a couple of trips home and two years in Samoa, have been here ever since. We purchased our dream lifestyle block in 1995 and proceeded to plant a four acre chestnut orchard. Further plantings of pecans, almonds, hazelnuts & walnuts have since added to the nutty character of the farm. With forty acres at our disposal it was not feasible to cover the entire property in nuts so we have opted for a range of fruit trees in the area around the house with the remainder of the land in grass for the steers and alpacas.
We have been keen members of the New Zealand Tree Crops association for a number of years although we rarely have time to attend meetings these days. In our spare time we manage the Kaiwaka Cheese Shop & Deli in nearby Kaiwaka, Marita also coordinates the Mangawhai Saturday market.
