FULL CIRCLE

A HERITAGE BUILDING IN NEED OF REVIVAL BROUGHT THIS CREATIVE — BUT NOMADIC — COUPLE BACK TO THEIR HOME TOWN AFTER DECADES AWAY

Feel like slowing down? Find a heritage building, spend years doing it up and then start a bunch of commercial projects. Jo Stallard and Stuart Greenhill have a funny way of taking it easy

IT BEGAN WITH buckets of damson plums. Later came quinces and a couple of wild ducks. The most recent offering was a goat’s hindquarters. These are just some of the gifts Jo Stallard and Stuart Greenhill have received from locals since they’ve returned after 40 years to their home town of Stratford. “According to the person who gave it to us, goat is the only way to make a good curry,” explains Stuart.

The couple, both in their late 50s, have been together since their teens and grew up in the small rural Taranaki town — Jo’s parents were farmers, and Stuart’s dad was a stock agent. When they were in their early 20s, they left Stratford with their children, Christopher and Adrianna, to study art at Canterbury University. But life was tough; the children were young — three and 18 months respectively — and money was sparse. For three months, the family lived in a Kombi, Stuart snaring rabbits for the family to eat.

After graduating, Stuart and Jo needed jobs — fast. “The quickest way to get work back then was to teach,” says Jo. They returned to New Plymouth, both teaching English, art history and classics. ( Jo also teaching drama.) After a decade or so, they bought a block of land at Brixton, south of Waitara, to grow erica and boronia for export to Japan (Stuart having spent three years on a diploma of horticulture when he first left school). Three years later, they were on the move again — to Tauranga. “We bought the worst café and recreated it,” says Stuart. “And we thought teaching was hard,” adds Jo.

But by now, they were developing their groove — finding a creative venture, pursuing it for a while, and then returning to personal projects.

After Tauranga, they headed to the Marlborough Sounds to write and paint, then spent a year in Chiang Mai, where Stuart finished his satirical novel Fog (soon to be published by London’s Austin & Macauley). In 2013, they returned to Tauranga when a property developer asked them to help design the interior of a development on Cameron Road. The restaurant/ café was part of a complex including a motel, medical rooms and pharmacy. They stayed for another three years before taking on another project — one that would bring them back to where they started.

Egmont Chambers in Stratford’s Fenton Street was in a bad way. A warren of accountants and lawyers offices, it required significant work — including earthquake strengthening — to salvage it. But Jo walked in and fell for the quality of its natural light; the view of Mt Taranaki sealed the deal. It would be her art studio.

THIS PAGE: Painter Jo Stallard and her partner, writer and poet Stuart Greenhill, are careful with the plants growing in their home’s “green” space. “Bringing nature into a home is bringing in life,” says Stuart. OPPOSITE: In planning the remodel, Stuart made sure the double- glazed windows in his den were “extra thick” to ensure the space was quiet enough for him to write.

THIS PAGE: The old chambers had to be earthquake-strengthened when it was overhauled. “The renovation has fascinated people,” says Jo. “I usually ensure the bench is wiped and the bed made as they love to see upstairs as well as down. It’s all part and parcel of it.” OPPOSITE: Jo’s artwork is displayed throughout the home. She specializes in oils, mainly portraits. “I am drawn to people,” she says, although she has recently been commissioned to paint landscapes. The painting by Jo above the table (below right) is called Not Woman Just Me and celebrates the 125th anniversary of women’s suffrage.