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How it all happened

The cafe opened in 2000, starting off with a small team. Growth has been steady since then. Especially popular with customers is the big parkland setting; parents let their children run around in the play area while enjoying a great lunch and a glass of wine.

  
     

 

 

 

 

 

Puhoi Valley History

The early settlers of Puhoi (Slow Water) came in 1863 from Bohemia, an area of what is now Czech Republic approx 60 kilometres from Prague. At the time the migrants left Bohemia it was part of  Austria – Hungary but in the German confederation.

On a  snow-laden night of 26 February 1863, a train with 86 billets left Staab (pronounce Stod) for Prague with the farewells of their parents and friends they would never see again. Three days later they were at Hamburg, their port of departure. After a long journey they arrived in Auckland from where they began their last part of their journey – on Captain Kaspers cutter to the Puhoi mouth where they were transferred to Maori canoes for the last four miles of their journey. They arrived at two Nihau whares on the riverbank, an area now part of the presbytery grounds. This was after a 106 day journey on 29 June 1863.

In the cold and dark the women settled on the ground and wept. According to the village tradition, the Bohemian settlers went on their land and at once began building nikau shacks, cutting tracks between neighbours and making their first clearance. Nobody knows today whether the lots were adequately marketed and how they were identified or how they were allocated. There was plenty of food in the bush in the river and in the sea. Language would have been a problem initially, communicating with Maori and English speaking European folk in the Auckland area – a 30 mile walk. Later in 1873 the first sheep were introduced and also the first horse came along making ploughing possible.

Nowadays Puhoi is within commuting distance from Auckland, and can reap the harvest of the early settlers venture.

 

  

 Photos in and around

 The Art of Cheese Cafe

(click for enlargement and click the "back" button on  your browser to return here)

       
       
 

   

see the cheese-making through the big windows!

 

  

 
 

 

  
Retail Price List Price $ per 100g   Price $
3 year old Parmesan 5.00 Basil Pesto Feta 5.00
4 year old Cheddar 4.30 Blue Brie 125g 4.00
Cracked Pepper 4.30 Camembert 125g 4.00
Creamy Goat 6.30 Cow Feta 190g 4.00
Creamy Walnut 5.70 Double Cream Brie 220g 7.50
Cumin Seed 3.80 Dressing 340ml 5.50
Fenugreek 4.30 Feta 1 kg 19.00
Garlic & Chive 3.80 Flavoured Yoghurt 4.90
Gruyere 5.00 Garlic & Cumin Feta 5.00
Hawhe Hawhe 5.00 Goat Feta 190g 8.00
Massdam 4.30  Goat Milk Chevre Salade 8.00
Mature Cumin Seed 5.00  Kaipara Blue 230g 8.00
Nature Nettle 3.80 Lemon Grass Feta 4.00
Peach Wood Bacon 5.70 Olive Tapenade Feta 5.50
Soft Tasty 3.80 Parmesan Grated 4.50
Sund Dried Tomato 5.70 Parmesan Shaved 4.50
Vegetarian Gouda 5.00 Sun Dried Tomato Feta 4.00
Vintage Edam 4.30    
Vintage Gruyere 5.80 Brie Wheel 28.00
Vintage Smoked Edam 5.00  Brie Wheel 1/2 18.00
Vintage Tasty 4.30  Triple Cream Brie  5.70/100g
Wash Rind 6.30    
Xtra Mature Gouda 5.00    
       
Bohemian Blue 5.80 Greek Black Olives 5.00/100g
Gorgonzola 5.80 Marinated Blue 5.70/100g
 Matakana Blue 5.80  Silver Skin Onions  3.00/100g
Pakiri Blue 5.80 Sun Dried Tomatoes 3.00/100g
       
       

 

  

 

Links

 Accommodation in Puhoi:
 

The Ridge Country Lodge offers luxury bed and breakfast

The Waipiata Lodge - Shining Water

 

The Art of Cheese Cafe & Shop

Puhoi, North Auckland, Phone 09 422 0670   Fax 09 422 0008

 

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