Continuing with our plans to make contact with the local community, I made my first visit to the Cancer Society monthly Coffee Club morning. This group of ladies generally meets in the local club rooms, but unknown to me, there was an outing planned for today. We shared cars and drove down to Otaki to the lovely old homestead, Strathean.
Strathean Retreat
Used for retreats, the building is set in 5 hectares of lawns and mature native trees. The ladies were very friendly and welcoming, and after a delicious morning tea, we were invited by our hostess to take a stroll through the large orchard and pick a bag of apples each to take home. What a treat! As we wandered around the orchard we found several different varieties of apples ready on the trees, including some large cooking apples. “Look at this”, one of the ladies called, “Black Boy peaches”. Some of these lovely dark red beauties were popped in the bags as well.
The apple trees were laden
White doves fluttered by, adding to the serene mood of this lovely old property. With such a large number of mature trees around, there is sure to be plenty of native birds living close by. It was a very pleasant morning, and I plan to attend regular Coffee Club meetings and get to know the other members. The Cancer Society runs this monthly group to give friendly support to patients, cancer survivors and their families.
The dove cote
3 comments:
A great day out Jenny, and a super place to visit. Always good to be involved within any new place we go to live. Plums and apples, what a bonus. Cheers from Jean
Nothing like the taste of fresh fruit is there Jenny? I do miss the apples and pears we had in Roseneath - maybe I should take a trip up to Otaki - I seem to remember some good quilt shops on the way.......
Thanks ladies, for your comments. I'm taking the fruit away with us on our caravan trip and I'm sure some of it will be cooked up, an apple crumble perhaps?
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