Olivers owners pleased by demand

David (left) and Andrea (Andy) Ritchie outside one of three rooms they have available for accommodation at Olivers, five months after leaving their Auckland lifestyles behind. Photo by Colin Williscroft.

Owners Dave and Andy Ritchie, who took over the historic property in February, have been renting out rooms in the old stables for the past few months.

But any decision about reopening the restaurant has been postponed.

Recently, they invited former owner Fleur Sullivan, now of Moeraki, to lunch to discuss their plans for the buildings.

Although the intention was to open a restaurant on the property at some point, Mr Ritchie said the finer details were still undecided.

However, they had decided to not run the restaurant themselves.

"We're not restaurateurs. We're confident we can run the accommodation side of things but running a restaurant profitably is quite different."

In the meantime, the couple have been pleasantly surprised by the number of guests.

"It's been quite good.

We've had very good feedback from people who have stayed.

"When we arrived we were probably of the view that we wouldn't open in winter, so it's been good to have some people through."

Running Olivers is a complete change of lifestyle for the couple.

Mr Ritchie has a corporate background while Mrs Ritchie has a fine arts degree.

They plan to have another eight rooms ready for guests by the end of the year.

As the buildings carry so much historical significance, Mr Ritchie said there was a lot of liaison with the New Zealand Historic Places Trust.

A conservation plan is being worked on.

In the meantime the Ritchies are working with the Clyde Museum and residents of the town to date different aspects of the complex of stone buildings, which date back to the 1860s and have a category 1 classification by the trust.

colin.williscroft@odt.co.nz