Westwood Country House
 
Short Stays article for Travel section - Dominion Post
By Nick Barnett                                                 
  
What: Westwood Country House
Where: 82 West St, Greytown, tel: 06 304 8510, website: www.westwood.greytown.co.nz
Basics: Stylish bed & breakfast in a designer home; also a renovated self-contained cottage that sleeps up to six

Reviewed by: Nick Barnett
  
In the fragrant entrance foyer of Westwood Country House, owner Jill Kemp greeted my partner and me warmly. We had stayed there once before, and she takes pride in her guests’ readiness to return. “It’s a full house tonight,” she told us.
 
“Full house” meant us plus two other couples escaping Wellington for the tourist-friendly spaciousness of Wairarapa. As well, a trio of stylish young women accompanied by their equally elegant mother were staying in Jill’s renovated 1950s house next door, Cherry Cottage. Their reason for being there together? Mum’s birthday. A night or two at a beautiful country house and dinner at an acclaimed restaurant, only a stroll away in Greytown village, seems a wonderful way of marking someone’s special day.
 
Westwood is a light-filled, single-storey house set back from West St, a block from Greytown’s shops and restaurants on State Highway 2. Jill and Peter Kemp took over what had been a berry farm and had the house built during the 1990s to a design by local architect Max Edridge that recalled the interior layout of the Kemps’ much-loved previous home at Eastbourne. The new house won third place in the top-value category of 1999’s House of the Year awards.
 
Natural materials, gentle neutral colours and an abundance of light create a restfulness that envelops the road-tired traveller. This was the environment the Kemps created for themselves. Widowed in 2001, Jill has continued the B&B business the couple had started and is now in her eighth season as host.
 
On this visit, Jill puts us in one of the rooms facing west, looking out past a stream and across rows of low trees toward the blue Tararuas. As we take in the view, Jill’s flock of sheep chew back at us.
 
The gardens are exceptional. Aside from ornamental nyssas and lines of birch and maple, there’s a formal garden with an array of herbal scents to calm the heart rate. To raise it, there’s a petanque court and solar-heated swimming pool.
 
Breakfast is a special event – as I believe it should be in a true “B&B”. Jill offered her “full house” the works: bacon, eggs as you like them, mushrooms and tomatoes, cereals, toast and preserves, fruit salad and a bowl of softened tamarillos. We guests gathered and chatted at a sheltered table outdoors, with greenery and mountains as a backdrop.
 
And further afield? Greytown’s boutiques, antique shops and restaurants are a few minutes’ walk away. Within a manageable drive are Wairarapa’s coastal sights, outdoor adventures, wineries and quirky attractions such as Puzzlewood and Paua World. This time we tackled the drive and steep stair-climb to Cape Palliser lighthouse, and watched the seals swim, scratch and sunbathe among rocks at the North Island’s southernmost point.
 
Westwood seems to have a time-stretching effect. When our visit was over, it was remarkable how much time seemed to have passed, how much was packed in, how far we seemed to have gone. The “short stay” seemed not so short – which is the whole idea.
 
· Westwood Country House hosted Nick Barnett