Cloud Farm: High on Banks Peninsula

by Jane Chetwynd

This is the captivating account of a seduction. A city woman is unaccountably smitten by the desire to have her own piece of bush, to the point where she resigns her job as professor of public health at the Christchurch School of Medicine and takes on an isolated Banks Peninsula property. Cloud Farm is 165 acres of gorse-ridden, cloud-shrouded hillside 2,000 feet above sea level. The house hasn’t been lived in for 60 years and the rats have been having a ball. Jane Chetwynd’s steady progress in the face of obstacles is impressive. She leaves her cosmopolitan life (and steady income) and takes on the role of landowner. First job: to make the house habitable – a job which requires lateral thinking for a woman with little practical bent. The author’s interest in bush regeneration sees her encouraging the growth of native trees and grappling with the gorse problem which threatens not only her property fut her finances as well. Told in vibrant prose spiked with humor and affectionate portraits of fellow players, Cloud Farm will appeal to anyone who has ever nursed a dream where the odds seem impossible.

Genres: Memoir

182 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read, following the journey of a woman fed up with the fast-paced City life who buys a farm on Banks Peninsula with a view to living more peacefully and restoring native bush.

Well written, interesting and engaging, I only wish there were more photos!

[Sue Webber · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this, a fascinating read. Cloud Farm is certainly on my Places to visit list.

[Joanne Shaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Patricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

An easy read that left me wanting more information. 25 years after buying the farm what does it now look like. Is Jane and a Heather still there?

[Philippa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review published in the New Zealand Herald, 31 July 2004
"A dream come true"

Cloud Farm
by Jane Chetwynd
(Longacre Press, 29.95)

Reviewed by Philippa Jamieson

Escaping the rat-race and moving to a sanctuary in the country: it's the dream of many New Zealanders, but how many of us actually follow that dream, let alone write about it?
Jane Chetwynd left behind her latte lifestyle, and gave up the status and money of her job as a professor at the Christchurch School of Medicine, when she fell in love with a farm on Banks Peninsula.
Without quite knowing why, she began idly scanning the newspaper ads for livestock, then the Farms for Sale column. Gradually her fantasies became real, and she bought a 66ha farm above Akaroa, with 20ha of covenanted native bush, gorse galore, panoramic sea views, and a derelict old farmhouse with no running water, power, or bathroom. Chetwynd's ever-helpful friend Dee dubs it Cloud Farm because, at 610m above sea level, it is frequently enveloped in a blanket of cloud.
Apart from some timber plantings, native bush regeneration is the main aim for most of the farm, as it is with the well-known Hinewai nature reserve next door.
For much of the book the author describes the transformation of the house from a rat-infested hovel to a warm and comfortable dwelling with solar power, a composting toilet, and spring water on tap. This she accomplishes with much help from a builder and various others – and her salary – but she's keen to muck in herself and know how everything works. This DIY story reveals Chetwynd's optimism and determination, but occasionally drags with mundane detail that could have been left out.
The style is honest and straightforward, with the occasional humorous anecdote. What is inspiring is that she follows her impulses, and her dream unfolds as she keeps moving in the direction that feels right, however crazy it appears. She craves something more satisfying than her high-powered job: a deep connection with the land, and a deceleration of pace to match its rhythms.
The moral of the story: be true to yourself, and nurture those seemingly irrational yearnings, because they could take you somewhere wonderful and unexpected.

Philippa Jamieson is a Dunedin writer and a volunteer on the WWOOF scheme (Willing Workers on Organic Farms).

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is very good and I'm disappointed no one else has written a review of it (I can read). I enjoyed the book very much and it was easy to read. I may be a bit biased because I live on Banks Peninsula and have been to Cloud Farm (and know the author-naaaahhh). Highly recommended.

[Aileen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it nice to see people follow their dreams

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable, easy to read book. Insipiring story about how a woman identified and followed her dream which meant turning her back on her successful professional career.

[Trish Carroll · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was lent this wonderful book by a friend .. a week ago ... could not put it down. Absolutely fascinating story ... Congratulations Jane.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a typical 'building a house out the back of nowhere' story, and very well done it was, too.