NZ Life & Leisure

Coming into a great deal of money isn’t a guarantee of an easy life. It takes tenacity and planning to live well, says someone who knows.

You’ll know when your digestive system is working the way it should.

Some people have fairies at the bottom of their garden; the Jacob family of Mt Eden have a cave.

When everybody knows your name, a private space becomes a treasure and Jools Topp has found hers in a country caboose.

Southerly gales invigorate the Hills family life in a holiday house by the sea.

This dish can be cooked at a leisurely pace in a lidded barbecue or pizza oven.

Multi-roomed tents with real furniture make communing with nature a very smooth operation at Wainamu.

Iron deficiency is common. How much do you need, and why? Dr Libby sums up a vital mineral.

The journey has been every bit as important as the destination for two farming families behind New Zealand’s longest-running private walk.

A bach at the beach yields vintage holidays for one of New Zealand’s best-known wine-making families.

One of Australasia’s most successful bagpipe players, plays a triumphant tune that drifts from the flat plains of Palmerston North to the Scottish Highlands.

A couscous perfect for summer with spring onions, dates and feta.

Hula girls, grass skirts and a pineapple ice bucket... the only thing missing from this Hawaiian homage is a coconut palm swaying in the warm Waiheke breeze.

There was a young girl who dreamt of faraway lands, who saw roads stretching ahead filled with never-ending stories. Thankfully, it became it reality.

Kith and kinship are at the heart of the happiness found in a tiny holiday community on the South Island’s south coast.

Unwanted waste might disappear from the immediate environment, but it has to go somewhere.

Fifty private huts, hidden in native bush in the Orongorongo Valley near Wellington, have played an important role for generations of families.

Doing up a vintage or retro caravan is a bit like doing up a vintage car. Not only is it addictive, but you are also faced with a number of very similar decisions to make.

Don Jessen shares his experience restoring a rusty 1958 14-foot (4.2 metre) Liteweight Kiwi caravan, one of only 28 built, to her former glory.

The more we demand organic foods and reject pesticides, the more available organics will become.

Drought, ferocious winds and extreme temperatures aren’t ideal conditions to create a garden, but Penny Zino has done it.

Stylist and costume designer Claire Croskery travelled throughout Asia, stitching a little flair into everything from stage shows to television commercials. But it was India that stole her heart.

Organic, biodynamic and natural skin care products were once on the fringe. Now they are all the rage.

‘Feel the fear and do it anyway’ could have been invented for adventure traveler Ellis Emmett.

‘Valve’ becomes an offensive word when Polly and co suffer plumbing problems.

Eric Swinbourn hankered after a friend’s cobalt blue Alfa Berlina, and then his chance came his knocking.

The decommissioned Stratford-Okahukura line covers some of the most isolated country in the North Island making it home to the tunnels, bridges and townships that time forgot.

A NZ home-brew company has doubled its turnover after launching an electric brewing machine called The Grainfather.

A visitor to Dublin meets Molly Malone, Oscar Wilde and Handel, and downs his first-ever Guinness in the embrace of a local pub-goer.

Every vista in this world-class garden, photographed through the seasons, tempts visitors down a path laden with promise. Barewood Garden's creator shares how she's grown alongside her garden.

A Matakana couple find that brewing beer, staying creative and living in the country is the best medicine for what ails you.

A farewell tour of some of the United States' most famous destinations comes close to breaking the heart of this nature photographer.

This week in the water cooler:  we learn how to look after dogs on Guy Fawkes Day, let boy bands navigate us and are eating cakes that can't be beet-en.

A colourful Auckland family with a motley crew of animals are opening their garden gate for the Heroic Garden Festival.