John met us, myself, a visitor from the UK and my daughter, a resident of NZ, at Blenheim airport and soon we were at Stonehaven. A beautiful, peaceful spot centrally located for some excellent wineries. We were encouraged to feel at home from the very first moment. Tea and freshly baked shortbread, a swim in the gorgeous pool followed and then a visit to John's cellar to choose a bottle to go with the evening meal we'd ordered in advance. Paulette is an excellent cook, it was a fabulous three course meal, quite the best and the wine was superb. John and Paulette contributed a bottle as did an Italian couple also staying and this worked very well as it allowed us to enjoy a number of wines. Next morning we hired their bikes after fresh fruit,home baked muffins and a cooked breakfast made with local produce had set us up for the day. We then toured the wineries mostly those recommended by John which was brilliant and very informative. We enjoyed their company immensely and observed the unobtrusive way in which they worked, totally professional. This trip was one of the highlights of my stay in NZ, I wholeheartedy recommend it. The level of care for us was quite outstanding. Thank you. We will never forget it.

I've been the guest of Paulette and John a couple of times now.
First time, I've chosen this place, because it's in central to several wineries, which are all in easy walking distance, like Alan Scott, Cloudy Bay, Hunters, Herzog...
The place is simply stunning, John knows the wineries and their wines inside out and Paulette's breakfast is simply delicious.
So if you like wine, food, outdoors, scenic beauty and all this in middle of the one of the best wine regions in the world, this is your place.

I just can't say enough good things about this place. We stayed at Stonehaven for 2 nights during our New Zealand travels and we wish we had stayed here longer.

From the moment we walked in, we felt so welcome by John and Paulette. The first evening they made reservations for us after letting us look through their book of local menus. The next morning we had a delicious breakfast and got a run down on some wineries to visit after going down to their wine cellar and picking out some bottles to have later that evening. It was a bit of a rainy day and we found it so relaxing to chill out in our cozy room after visiting the wineries. Then that night, New Years Eve, we wandered downstairs and they made the most outstanding meal. Paulette is a 5 star cook. On par or better than the world renowned Herzog Bistro we ate at the first night. It was so enjoyable talking with them over dinner, and of course the next morning was another fantastic breakfast with cranberry muffins packed up for us as we drove away.

Throughout the rest of our NZ trip we mentioned John and Paulette, often referring to them as our NZ mom and dad, and talking about how the places we stayed were not as good in all categories - food, service, comfort, etc.

We hope to go back soon. I highly recommend anyone to stay here and will be a little jealous that you are getting to go and not us.

Kate & Lennie

We came all the way from Sweden and found this heaven hosted by John & Paulette.
They took care of us by all means, served excellent meals with superb wines, lended us bicycles to visit all the nearby wineyards, we tried at least eight before we lost count!
The homestay and the surrounding garden is like a postcard, go there. Since there is only three guestrooms you will almost be by yourself to experience this heaven worth every penny!
If we return to NZ we will for sure return to this place and stay longer the next time.