I’ve yet to see a bull in a china shop. But I have met two Miniature Schnauzers in a ‘bed, bath and living’ shop. And with their silky, silver coats freshly groomed at one of Wellington’s upmarket doggy salons, Max and Ellie look positively at home among the toiles, silks and sprigged linens.
The dogs are the pride and joy of Penny Hall (owner of Finishing Touches) and her good friend Judy Beetham respectively, and possibly the most pampered pooches in Greytown.
Three years ago, Penny was working part time at The Rose Room in Carterton, when the chance to buy Finishing Touches came up. After some initial trepidation, “it was like opening a window,” says Penny, who had recently separated from her husband. “I’ve always enjoyed people. I’m a bit mad and bubbly, a chatterbox”.
The ‘gorgeous things’ in her shop reflect her memories of the English countryside and growing up in an old Sussex farmhouse. “I’ve always lived in a village, that’s why Greytown suits me so well. I loved my Wind in the Willows and Christopher Robin. I like elegant, nostalgic things that will last for years.”
The “joker” at her boarding school, she still laughs about late night highjinks with a smuggled copy of Lady Chatterley’s Lover. Her career dates back to her first job at a Mayfair advertising agency in her early twenties. Cue Penny in white PVC boots and tartan miniskirt, grooving to the latest sounds of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones: “I was in a flat in Kensington High Street, and it was a fabulous era to be living in London.”
The 1970s saw her in Auckland in various executive assistant roles, including with Greg Paykel at Fisher & Paykel. She spent 18 years in Queensland, Australia, before returning to New Zealand.
Anchoring her life are family and friends, some dating back to school days. She is in touch daily via Skype with daughter Nicky and beloved grandson Samuel, aged three, in Kent. She’s valued the support of other Greytown retailers, and counts assistant Marie Carlsson as a close friend.
“If you get to your mid-60s and you have three or four close women friends, as I do, who are there for you through thick and thin, you are very lucky,” she says.
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