Telling Tales of Rural Life

Words: Pattie Pegler

Images: Dorothy McLennan

On a late summer morning looking out over a garden with rambling roses, vigorous vines and established trees – it’s hard to imagine that seven years ago this was a bare paddock. But that’s exactly what it was says homeowner Sue Heazlewood.

The first task in the garden was creating an edible garden. “I saw something similar in a movie and I thought I’d like something similar,” she explains. It also gave her the benefit of having a small area to focus on initially rather than being overwhelmed by the size of the project. Although, hard work and large projects aren’t things that seem to trouble Sue. A mother of six grown up children, former property developer and author of the successful Tangleby books – she is a whirlwind of undaunted energy.

Originally from Cheviot, Sue lived for several years in Christchurch but always longed to return to rural life. When her eldest son, Adam, spotted this house on the market he thought it was perfect for her – he was right.

Fast forward several years and Sue has truly made the modern house a home for herself and her partner, Don.  There are comfortable couches, a white grand piano and a French dining table under a modern chandelier-style light. Whilst touches of gold show up in the baroque style frames of paintings and burnt orange accents in the cushions and dining chairs. It’s exuberant in its gleaming colours.

So how would Sue describe her interior design style? “Formal rustic,” she replies without a pause. “I don’t want a house where I am tiptoeing around or am worried when grandchildren come over.”

But it was the garden, the rural setting and the creatures that she came across that inspired her first book – Tails of Tangleby Gardens. “I was in the garden and I had been watching these skylarks and I just started thinking about talking animals,” she recalls. The book also includes simple recipes for children to make.

“I’ve always loved cooking,” she says. “When my six children were growing up there was a huge amount of cooking. I would always write the dinner menu on the kitchen splashback so they wouldn’t keep asking what was for dinner. And on a Sunday I would give them three choices for their school lunchboxes.”

That first book took Sue just six months to write and was published in 2022. Since then she has written and published three other books – a second children’s book and two grown up cookbooks – including A Table At Tangleby which recently won the Entertainment Category in the Gourmand Best in the World Cookbook Awards.

But this is not overnight success, says partner Don. Together they work endlessly on the books – checking online orders, keeping up with comments and feedback on social media and talking to distributors, going to food shows and producing online content. And, on top of this, Don is also working on his own book which looks at the history of the Havelock District.

Meanwhile Sue is always trying different recipes, making notes and making short cooking videos for their social media channels. She films them in the light, bright and meticulously tidy kitchen at her home – but whilst the cooking comes easily to her, she has had to build her confidence at making videos.

“When she first started filming I wasn’t even allowed in the house at the same time,” says Don good naturedly.

Whilst awards might be exciting, it’s not what keeps Sue and Don working. They love what they’re doing and the feedback from customers is heartwarming. They hear from grandparents who read the stories and cook the recipes with their grandchildren, they’ve been told about a 4-year old who cooked dinner using one of the Tangleby recipes for children. They are making people happy – and it feels good they say.

Sue has three more books due to be published over the coming year. And the couple have also developed some other products around the Tangleby books – a pair of soft toy rabbits based on characters in the books, Marmalade and Montgomery; measuring spoons for baking; a digital thermometer and a digital measuring spoon. Whilst this Easter they are also organising an Easter Egg Hunt at Tangleby Gardens.

“We need eight day weeks and 28 hour days,” says Don with a grin.

On the way out Sue points to a bed of colourful dahlias. “Dahlias are my latest obsession,” she says. “A few months ago that was just lawn, now there are 120 types of dahlia planted there.”

There’s a lot going on at Tangleby Gardens. And it’s pretty impressive.