NZ Life & Leisure

This refreshing cordial also makes a terrific base for a cocktail – just pour with gin over ice, then top up with soda water.

To cement their partnership, Antonia de Vere and Mark Seeney got married. Now they combine their talents in one very creative business, Markantonia

In her new book Observations of a Rural Nurse Sara McIntyre combined her nursing work with pleasure capturing, photos of the town of Kākahi where she practised.

Central Otago artist Deidre Copeland's paintings are immediately recognizable. Big canvases. Hyperrealism.

Hunting for truffles is not for the impatient or the olfactorily impaired. Success calls for a sniffer-out of buried bounty – in other words, a dog.

A stay at these all-glass cabins on the outskirts of Kaikoura is to step into a magical realm where the world is reframed and time works in mysterious ways.

How to keep a lime happy, even in the cold.

This recipe comes from Ruth Pretty's good friend Serena Bass, a cooking-school teacher and caterer based in New York.

A Wanaka couple’s enthusiasm for natural-fibre products weaves essential purpose into their business, warmth into their home, and ties them to a very personal pioneering past.

Further reading and additional online resources for our special edition In Your Backyard: Sustainability Through the Seasons.

These little individual cakes are very, VERY good. You can keep a stash of unfilled cakes in the freezer for emergencies.

A universal truth is the power of three. In the coastal township of Raglan, three adored baches subscribe to that hypothesis.

Happy days are forecast when the owner of a rosy-hued vintage caravan takes to the road.

Responsible for millions of bees, 26-year-old Steph Munro of Southland's Munro Honey now combines her design skills with the sweeter side of life.

The Rockhopper penguin is a New Zealand native whose numbers have sharply declined in the last 30 years. Inspire the kids to support the Rockhopper in Forest & Bird's Bird of the Year competition with this adorable crochet hat.

Between the mountains and the sea, sculptor Ben Foster and environmentalist Sabrina Luecht have found the best of nests.

Canterbury sculptor Raymond Herber has carved out a true niche for his life and work in an abandoned quarry.

This is a take on a Jo Seagar recipe and a favourite with the Whalley family for Christmas pre-dinner nibbles. They use a 12-muffin tin but you could also make them mini-muffin size.

Amy Leigh Wicks’ second volume of poetry, The Dangerous Country of Love and Marriage, looks back to her childhood in the United States, untangles her arrival in New Zealand, and charts the upheaval of her adopted hometown, Kaikōura.

Manaaki condiments, made in Blenheim with traditional Māori ingredients, aren’t just delicious. They also spread hospitality and generosity.

Kurow lavender farm’s sweet smell of success

A picture-perfect lavender farm, is just one of a bunch of businesses nourished by a Kurow dairy farm.

Truffle flavour marries perfectly with butter, cream and eggs and  exceptionally well with food that is white: potato, rice, bread or pizza dough, cauliflower, pasta and fish.

A not-so-common species of beetle has been adored, stored and restored

A voyage on the high seas inspired an entrepreneurial couple to create a marine tracking system for boaties.

Yes, you can cut down on plastic waste. All it takes is a little planning to change to more eco-friendly habits says the experts.

A delivery business with a twist boosts returns for a Gisborne orchard.

A scoopful of fun is included in every tub made by these award-winning, boutique ice-cream makers.

There’s little room for nuance in the debate over the health of the country’s rivers and streams.

James and Polly breathe life into an old Oxford that’s more companion than caravan.

Brooke and Maggie Noonan left jobs at Auckland Zoo to build an off-grid, eco-friendly house in the Far North. And they struck oil.

Each decade of their life together has taken a New Plymouth couple a step closer to the way they dreamed of living.

Take fresh produce, freeze it, remove the moisture and wow professional chefs and home cooks alike with a range of exciting new ingredients.

Take roasties and savoury chicken to new heights with fragrant tarragon butter.