A concussion upended her city life. Now she’s rebuilding a forgotten bush bach, and herself

Friday, 12 June 2026

Folks will say life in the country after the hubbub of the city can be healing. In Marinella van den Hoven’s case, that healing has been literal.

Originally from the Netherlands, Marinella lives in Titirangi, Auckland, with her partner, Bronson Wilson, where she volunteers at a local gallery and soaks up life in the wilds outside our largest city. Every weekend, the pair work on rescuing the tiny 1940s bach and garden they bought to be their wilderness haven, and documenting it for Marinella’s 17,000 followers on Instagram.

The couple met in Amsterdam and spent several years there together before Marinella had her accident.

'[The concussion] completely changed my life. I had to lie in a dark room for quite a long time, couldn't do many of the things that I was able to before.'

The issue lasted for years until the couple was forced to accept that something would have to change.

They wanted to move out of the city, but didn't think the Netherlands was the place to do that.

'That's a big reason why we thought, 'OK, we need to make a big change, why don't we move to New Zealand and live in nature?''

'Very much a city girl', Marinella had visited Aotearoa with Bronson three times before, so knew what the country was like and enjoyed the relaxed lifestyle. Still, a permanent move would be a huge step.

'Living in Amsterdam, we had an apartment in the middle of the city centre,' she said. 'But it was so busy, stimuli everywhere. I had no choice but to change.

'The beautiful silver lining of that is that it actually led me back to nature and a life that's a lot more calm. That's the life that I want to continue having, now that I've experienced it.'

They chose Auckland because that's where Bronson's family was. But they started looking for their own place outside the city.

'I needed a quiet place for healing … We actually just kept on going further and further away because we were like, 'Oh, this is not naturey enough',' she laughs.

On a previous trip, the couple had spent time in Titirangi and Piha and loved the arty vibe, so they focused their search there, eventually finding the cottage. It was an opportunity to create the lifestyle they wanted without a crushing mortgage on top.

At 50m², the former holiday bach is about the size of a tiny house or city apartment. It sits on about a quarter-acre of land, however, almost half of which is covered in covenanted native bush.

'We basically bought a garden, with a house on it,' Marinella says. 'It's such a magical little place, and I think it had probably been overlooked by many people because it's so small.'

Despite its age, the home appeared to be in pretty good condition. On closer inspection, however, it was very much a 1940s house that hadn't had much maintenance. Most of the work that had been done was cosmetic, and that 'wasn't holding up so well' any more. They had their work cut out for them.

'We definitely had a few surprises. We had a few dead rats in the ceiling,' she says. 'I think it needed some love, and we were the right people at the right place to finally give it the love that it deserves.'

Neighbour Kirsten Caddy says it's been nice to see someone fixing the home up and opening it up to the light.

'It hadn't been touched for a long time. It's really nice to see somebody doing it, but keeping the character of the place and not just bowling it down,' Caddy says.

'You always worry, when somebody's buying, what they're going to build, and how much it's going to affect the rest of the street,' Caddy says.

Marinella and Bronson are doing as much of the work as they can themselves, with a little help from tradies for the hard parts - foundations and plastering - and some experienced family members.

'We couldn't have done it any other way, cost-wise,' she says. 'We've had amazing help from Bronson's dad, who is a really experienced roofer and builder, and Bronson's also been a roofer, so they're very handy.'

The home has some 'quirky original features', including a Victorian mantelpiece and native timber floors, which they aim to restore and enhance. And the garden will become something of a food forest once Marinella is finished with it. They even have a couple of chooks who came with the property.

'I just want to have a collection of beautiful knick-knacks, a garden with lots of flowers and things that make me happy, and not necessarily think about what would be good for re-sale value,' she says.

'I want this place to be a cosy cocoon of joy and happiness. I've gone through a few very rough years with my health, and coming out of that, finding healing in nature, I'm so thankful to be in New Zealand.'