- The Bliss family's Taranaki retreat, once a restaurant frequented by Tom Cruise, is for sale.
- Fraser and Viktoria Bliss are moving closer to New Plymouth for their daughters' ballet.
- The eco-friendly property offers energy independence and combines modern living with sustainability.
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The Bliss family's off-grid retreat in Taranaki has a lot going for it, but one thing you wouldn't expect is Tom Cruise.
The heritage villa at the heart of their lifestyle block was formerly home to a well-known New Plymouth restaurant that hosted the Hollywood star while he was filming in New Zealand.
The house, which dates back to the 1890s, was moved to 602 Pembroke Road West in 2018, but during the early 2000s, when Cruise was shooting the epic drama The Last Samurai, it was the site of Mediterranean hotspot Kassaba.
Vendor Fraser Bliss told OneRoof that Cruise was a regular during the shoot. “When we took this place over, we were told that when The Last Samurai was filmed in Taranaki, the film crew and Tom Cruise often rented out the Kassaba restaurant,” Bliss said.
“So, we have a small claim to fame, that Tom Cruise has had dinner in this dining room. I don't know how true that is, but I like to believe it's true.”
The Bliss family are selling their free-range paradise and moving to the city for their daughters’ ballet. Photo / Supplied
The off-grid retreat at 602 Pembroke Road West, Stratford, is a standout property in the region. Photo / Supplied
Fraser and his wife Viktoria will be sad to say goodbye to 602 Pembroke Road West, and not just because of its Hollywood connection. The couple, who run organic food delivery service Bliss Box, had spent years searching for the dream home, but are now selling up, because their ballet-mad daughters are drawing the family back to the city.
It’s a story 20 years in the making, Fraser told OneRoof. It started with a year of recurring infections and endless antibiotics, which resulted in Bliss deciding to take his health into his own hands.
“That prompted me to quit a lucrative career in the corporate world, and I went travelling around the world nonstop for five years,” he said.
Fraser is half Finnish but grew up in Canada, while Viktoria is from Austria. New Zealand was one of the stops on their world tour, and it left a lasting impression. The couple returned as skilled migrants and bought the Ooooby organic delivery company, which they renamed Bliss.
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The couple had been living in Auckland's Herne Bay, but they had a desire to raise a free-range family. The Covid pandemic helped them make the move four years ago. "We said to ourselves, 'We didn’t come to New Zealand to live in the city'," Fraser said.
“We found this place that had 240 metres of stream, and it had this really nice heritage house.”
The driving force, however, was to live closer to nature. "We’re modern people, and we have eco-sustainable values. But we're not hardcore like cooking over fire every day, and we're not completely 100% technically off-grid. We use gas to cook our food, and so we're taking a moderate approach,” Fraser said.
The house is hooked up to high-speed internet, and the family subscribes to the Bliss box service for themselves. "We have organic food from the best suppliers in the country delivered right here. We have wireless internet, we can run our businesses, and we've got the lifestyle here," Fraser said.
The family's heritage villa was moved to the 1.4ha lifestyle block in 2018. It had been the site of Kassaba Restaurant in New Plymouth, with Cruise among the many guests who dined there. Photo / Supplied
Cruise with Prime Minister Helen Clark during the production of The Last Samurai. Photo / Supplied
“Even 10 or 20 years ago, if you wanted to live in such a place, you really were committed to essentially being a farmer and living a simple life. But now you can have your cake and food box delivery and eat it too.”
The couple are big fans of Stratford. “This area's been interesting. A lot of people, including us, have come to this from Wellington and from Auckland. We had some friends who had moved here a couple of years before, and just talked about the Taranaki lifestyle as just so appealing," Fraser said.
It’s the couple's daughters who are behind their next move. "Our kids were one and three when we moved here. They’re six and eight [now], and they are really into performing arts and ballet. We calculated that we were going to New Plymouth three days a week for ballet. In the last year alone, we've driven over 5000km to rehearsals and performances.”
He added: “As much as we'd love to give them the fishing and all this nice stuff, we don't want to take their dancing away from them. So, we need to get a bit closer to town.”
Fraser and Viktoria run their organic food delivery firm, Bliss Box, from the property. Photo / Supplied
The family hasn’t yet started house-hunting, but would like to live on the outskirts of New Plymouth. "On a half-acre, close enough to be where we want to be but still have a bit of peace,” Fraser said.
The irony that they’re selling their off-grid home just when the country’s fuel crisis is taking hold isn’t lost on the couple. “We had committed to selling before this really escalated in the Middle East. We bought this place for security and for all these other things, and we're making a move now just as the world seems to get crazier. But we're sticking to our decision, but we certainly are slightly nervous about it.”
The three-bedroom, two-bathroom home sits on 1.41ha of land, and as listing agent Alison Smith, of Smith + Bishop, points out, the property has been designed with energy independence at its core.
“This is more than just a home; it’s an eco-resilient lifestyle,” Smith says in her listing on OneRoof. “Whether you’re passionate about growing your own food or simply want to live more sustainably, this property delivers.”
- 602 Pembroke Road West, Stratford, is for sale, deadline closing April 23
