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Sister act Danielle Smith and Lynn Beehre are adding vintage chic, good old-fashioned hearty fare and even weddings and children’s parties to The Farmers Wife Café at Sheepworld on SH1.
The sisters-in-law have both given up their careers to pursue the dream of creating the perfect country café. Danielle worked as a social worker and needs assessor across Auckland for 11 years. Most recently her role was ensuring the elderly received proper care. She also added qualified celebrant to her list of skills last year.
“I realised how important celebrant services were after my grandmother passed, it gave me the push I needed to train in this field,” Danielle says.
Lynn Beehre quit her job after 10 years as the enrolment administrator at Mahurangi Technical Institute.
“I really enjoyed the contact with students and their successes, but after completing a small business management course two years ago, I was really keen to implement some of my ideas to complement Dani’s vision for the cafe,” Lynn says.
The dynamic duo is keen to promote the café as a facility for the local community. They are renovating the indoor and outdoor children’s play area and have removed the gift shop to expand the seating space. The décor is very much country kitchen meets vintage chic. They are also keen to encourage local artists and crafts people to display their products, and already stock a small selection of hand-knitted items for sale.
“We would like to be a community hub for things like mother and toddler groups, craft groups and even vintage car clubs. We have a great location and plenty of parking,” Danielle says.
The pair starts cooking and baking every day at 8am using traditional ingredients, locally-sourced when possible.
“It’s a Kiwi country farmhouse kitchen, back to a simpler time when generations of women cooked for their families. You will find butter and sugar and all natural ingredients here!” Danielle says.
Daily specials change with seasonal ingredients; the signature Hearty Farmers Breakfast uses free-range eggs and bacon, with locally-sourced sausages.
The Farmers Wife Café is open seven days from 9.30am to 4.30pm.
