Facilities include:

• health clinic
• seminar room with open adobe fireplace and wood dance floor
• dining room with banquet table seating 18
• guest room
• labyrinth
• waterfall and natural swimming hole (if you can brave the cool waters).

Health Retreat:

Come and join us for an hour, a day, a weekend or a get-away retreat.

A ‘Pampering Package’ to suit your needs can include – shiatsu massage, detoxifying herbal body wraps, hot stone massage, a healthy eating programme designed for your blood type, Tibetan rites yoga, meditation, Spiritual Cinema, rebounding, exercise and bush walks.

The name Fernstone came from my love of ‘ferns’, the oldest plants on the planet and ‘stone’, which is the translation from Finnish, of my surname, Kivi.

Fernstone Connections is a sacred place in nature where kindred spirits can connect. Set in a valley surrounded by bush-covered hills, the building is constructed from earth-bricks and macrocarpa beams.

Bird life abounds on the property and includes tuis, rosellas, pheasants and swallows. Moreporks (owls) can be heard at night. Some baby bunnies don’t listen to their mothers’ warnings to stay indoors during the daytime, and can be seen hopping about. The night sky displays an array of stars that meets the horizon, providing breathtaking views on clear nights.

When I was a child, Peter Pan and Wendy affected me deeply, as Peter took Wendy away to his underground house, where they were safe from the pirates. So, I grew up wanting to live in an underground house – however I also wanted to be able to see the beauty of nature from my windows! As an adult, I found the practical solution was to build an earthen home with an earth-sod roof – like a cave above the ground, only with big windows. Because earth absorbs sound and negativity, an earthen house offers calm tranquillity.

I designed and made a model and then set about the task of building my dream castle. The result some call ‘a labour of love’ and others, ‘a work of art’. What brings me joy now, is to share this serene environment with others, bringing them together here, to make healing connections with nature, each other or themselves.



"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by moments that take our breath away."