The iconic NZ lodge with a dress-circle location

The Hotel

The Villas, Rosewood Kauri Cliffs, Northland, New Zealand

The 25-metre saltwater pool.

Check-in

How cheeky to call these villas on New Zealand’s North Island “residential-style”, given my domicile here is painfully temporary. The Robertson family, who owns the Rosewood-managed lodge, added three villas to four existing cottages during the pandemic, and they are now available to groups of up to eight (extra beds can be added at an additional cost). Guests can pretend to be ladies and lords of clifftop manors set on 2428 hectares of working farm, surrounded by an award-winning golf course, and overlooking a bay thick with dolphins and visiting whales. The lodge is 30 minutes’ drive from the Bay of Islands (Kerikeri) Airport, but visitors can also fly in by helicopter from Auckland.

The look

The villa’s elegant dining space opens to a deck.

The two- and four-bedroom dwellings echo the main lodge building – which houses a restaurant, bar and lounges – with their clapboard cladding, deep verandahs and expansive gardens overlooking Matauri Bay. Suites are also available at the lodge.

The elegant furnishings invite indolence; there are no jarring colours, just soft caramels, greens and blues that connect visually to the ocean, farm and private beaches snuggled into the cliffs below.

The 25-metre saltwater pool is fenced with glass so as not to obstruct the view, with tassels artfully strung along the barrier to deter birds from flying into it. The birds, meanwhile, sing up a storm in the native foliage cocooning each villa. It’s a dress circle location with private road access a short distance from the main house; loafers can use the electric golf caddy to get to and from it at mealtimes.

The room

Views out across the bay from the villa’s master bedroom.

The ocean-facing master bedroom in my four-bedroom villa is a retreat unto itself with its walk-in robe, marble-tiled bathroom, fireside armchairs – perfect for snuggling in with a book – and French doors leading to the deck. The three garden-facing suites also have en suites and a subtle personality change in the decor department. Comfort and serenity knit the spaces together and find delightful expression in the living room with its vaulted ceilings, natural-fibre furnishings and fireplace fit for winter tete-a-tetes. In summer, the deck’s pool loungers are the most prized amenity.

Food + drink

The fridge of each villa’s kitchen is stocked with New Zealand wine.

Gourmands can self cater in the kitchen while sipping New Zealand wine from the stocked fridge. Or treat yourself to the services of a private chef (the butler’s pantry is a discreet space for dinner-prepping). Rosewood’s Partners in Provenance initiative ensures local growers are both supported and represented on the a la carte and chef’s tasting menus at the main house. Golfers can grab a bite from the food truck parked on the “19th tee” daily in summer.

Out + about

Guests will find a golf course on their doorstep.

Laggards fear not: golfing, swimming and spa treatments are moments from your doorstep. Maori and settlement heritage are revealed on a guided farm tour and a walk through the native reserve set aside in tribute to the Williams family, who farmed Tepene Tablelands for 50 years before selling the farm to the Robertsons. Further afield, book a sailing charter in the Bay of Islands and visit Waitangi Treaty Grounds and the historic town of Russell.

The verdict

Luxe hotels can sometimes be stiff and formal, but Kauri Cliffs’ luxuriousness is a balm, not least due to the unaffected geniality of the lodge’s staff.

The essentials

From $11,755 for eight guests, including breakfast and dinner for a minimum two-night stay. 139 Tepene Tablelands Road, Matauri Bay, Northland, New Zealand, [phone]. See rosewoodhotels.com.

Score out of five

★★★★★

Highlight

Watching the sun rise over Matauri Bay from my cosy bedroom.

Lowlight

Sacrilegious, I know, but this golfing cynic would happily replace the greens with the native gardens planted elsewhere on the property.

The writer stayed as a guest of Tourism New Zealand.