This holiday home in the Far North is a masterclass in simplicity and charm

This story is from the team at NZ House & Garden magazine.

As a floral artist Vicki Roycroft creates botanical “unarrangements” that are inspired by the natural world. So, it’s hardly surprising that when Christmas rolls around, her approach to decorating is to keep things as organic and free-form as possible.

At her and husband Mark Inglis’ Rawene holiday home, for example, foliage from a broken pōhutukawa branch is used to fill tubs and vases, while ivy growing on the side of the house is transformed into the perfect base for a festive wreath or the foundation for a lovely garland that trails down the middle of the table.

There’s no formal Christmas tree – as their children, Milo and Maddie, are now grown up and living overseas, Vicki doesn’t feel the need.

If anyone has the knack for making the perfectly imperfect look easy, it’s Vicki and Mark. After relocating countless old villas on Waiheke Island, the serial renovators never let go of their dream to do up a heritage home in the Far North.

“When the children were little we’d often hit the road for the holidays, renting places in Rawene or over the water at Kohukohu,” says Vicki. “We wanted somewhere we could go backwards and forwards to and split the lifestyle between both places.”

After hunting for several years, they found a property with good bones overlooking Hokianga Harbour. “As soon as we walked in through the french doors we knew it was the one,” Vicki says. “We just thought, ‘Wow, this has such a lovely vibe with everything facing the view, plus the gorgeous kauri wood and all the original sash windows’.”

It helped that the small town was incredibly welcoming. “Rawene only has a population of 500 people but it feels like they all really want to help,” explains Vicki.

Mark researched the home’s backstory with the help of a friend who works at The New Zealand Historical Association, discovering that it was an original Wesleyan mission house relocated from Waimā by boat. “The minister took it in sections, down the harbour and put it back together below the church,” Vicki confirms. “It was built in 1886 and was relocated, we think, in the 1910s.

“That was a lovely story for us to hear because we have always relocated old villas and it was incredible to us that this one was also relocated, but way back in the 20th century.”

This will be the couple’s second summer dividing their time between their two properties. As contracts manager at Hokianga Health Rawene Hospital, Mark spends more time in the north, while Vicki focuses on running The Wildflower School at Woodside Bay on Waiheke Island.

If it sounds idyllic, it’s all down to the hard graft they’ve put in returning the 137-year-old villa to its former glory.

Fortunately, the space was already open-plan which saved the debate about whether or not to keep the original hallway. “Somebody changed that in a past life, which we’re actually grateful for because when we relocate, we try and keep things very authentic and we can’t bear to take the hall out,” Vicki explains.

Their first job was ripping out the nicotine-stained kitchen, and painting inside and out. “The outside still needs more work, but inside we decided to paint the walls two-tone. That was the first thing we did,” says Vicki.

Only the front part of the house had its original flooring, and some of it was overlay. The back part of the house had particle board so they decided to rip it all up and replace it with recycled boards from Burrell Salvage.

“The ceilings were hideous,” Vicki says. “So we ripped them out and put in tongue-and-groove ceilings.” They used a builder for some of the initial work, like the ceilings and some of the flooring, but Mark did the lion’s share of the renovation, with both of them tackling most of the painting.

Years of collecting antiques came in handy when it was time to decorate and meant the house didn’t need to be fitted out from scratch. “Our home in Woodside Bay [featured in NZ House & Garden, May 2023] is more contemporary so a lot of the antiques and crockery we’d collected while doing up old villas went to Rawene,” Vicki says.

“We did buy a few new (old) things from The Merchants of Kerikeri but mainly we decorated with the old antiques that we’d either inherited from people in the family or we’d collected from various country fairs or junk shops over the years.”

When they’re not renovating, Vicki loves to use watercolours, a skill she picked up during lockdown and now teaches her Wildflower students at Woodside Bay on Waiheke or on the international courses she offers in Europe.

The couple both like to cook, but this year Mark is in charge of the Christmas feast and Vicki is hoping her usual jewel-toned summer pudding will be served up… as well as some hot weather.

She likes her table settings to be laid-back and natural, using fresh green leaves and a few pops of colour. “Casual and informal. That’s how we like it,” says Vicki.

She even has a simple tip for emulating her undone look, especially when time is scarce and creativity is lacking.

“Get some beautiful pieces of branch and foliage to lay down the centre of the table. You can make it look like a garland by adding some little bud vases with a few stems in each,” she suggests.

“I don’t like flowers that look constrained or contrived. I prefer them to look as if they have almost been thrown in the vase.”

Scent is another consideration for the occasion. “Nothing beats the smell of natural pine but I do light a scented candle by Maison Margiela called By The Fireplace on Christmas Eve. It’s a nod to a European Christmas,” Vicki says.

Effortless elegance, every time.

Q&A with Vicki Roycroft & Mark Inglis

Renovation high point: I really like our colour scheme with the interior walls painted a sagey green on the bottom two-fifths and cream above. Although the inspiration was an abandoned house we loved in Italy, we see the style repeated on television every time the action takes place in prison or in an asylum. (Mark)

Low point: The ivy growing over everything including the weatherboards, veranda and roof. It’s grown like a boa constrictor around poles and under gutters causing rot and mayhem. It’s really difficult to remove but does give the house a quirky Munsters look. (Mark)

The thing we want to change next around the house: We want to open the veranda up to the garden by putting big wide central steps with lovely turned balustrades down onto the lawn. (Vicki)

Favourite local eatery: Without a doubt the Boatshed Cafe, an old corrugated iron boatshed built on piles over the water. Nothing beats eating one of its hearty soups with homemade bread on the back deck overlooking the gorgeous Hokianga Harbour, complete with squabbling seagulls and jumping mackerel. (Mark)

Tips for Christmas wrapping: I like to wrap presents in natural brown paper with a little piece of cinnamon stick or bit of rosemary or something similar. (Vicki)