Behind the scenes
As a freelancer, Claire’s got it sorted – she works like mad and then takes long travel breaks. She’s written about two houses and a garden in this issue and has been finding homes for our Christchurch tour. This year’s travel highlight: A toss-up between climbing Mt Kilimanjaro in sub-zero temperatures in January and a seven-day, self-guided walking holiday in Crete where the mercury hit 30°C.
The best thing about writing for the magazine: It gets me around the country where I usually discover local walks (such as the one to the Tutukaka lighthouse). The Christchurch house tour: Includes a great variety of places but I really liked the relaxed, creative feel of the Heathcote Helmore house belonging to Arts Centre CEO Philip Aldridge and his South African wife Fenella Hemm. (Tour info, page 154).
Auckland-based author Nicky Pellegrino was born in Liverpool but spent childhood summers in Italy with her exuberant Italian cousins, and it was the memories of those holidays that sparked her bestselling novels, set in Italy. Her latest,
A Dream of Italy, is out in late March. In this issue Nicky writes about the Di Maios’ bach in Raglan (page 50).
This summer I’ll be: Riding my beautiful grey gelding Uno down Muriwai beach at low tide as often as possible, swimming at high tide at my local beach in Pt Chevalier, pulling out my Ottolenghi books to cook relaxed dinners for friends, and reading the new Diane Setterfield novel Once Upon A River.
In 2019 I’m planning on: Going to Italy to catch up with friends and family and research more stories.