About Us
Welcome to Tangleby Gardens, where storytelling, beautiful landscaping, and the joy of cooking come together to inspire young minds and families.
The Visionaries Behind the Gardens
Sue Heazlewood is a former property developer, passionate gardener, and cook based in Ōhoka, North Canterbury. Her creative journey began when she built an elaborate, custom-designed 55m² playhouse on her property for her future grandchildren. While decorating its tiny rooms, she imagined a whimsical world of talking woodland animals living inside. This spark of inspiration led her to create the beloved Tangleby Gardens book series.
Don Auckram, Sue’s partner, is an integral part of the life and vision behind Tangleby Gardens. Together, they have lovingly transformed their rural property into a vibrant, peaceful haven. Don directly influenced the landscape's romantic identity by personally selecting one of the property's signature features—a custom rose variety named "Auckwood," which beautifully blends their surnames. Alongside Sue, he helps manage and host the magical property, ensuring it remains an inviting, "formal rustic" sanctuary for family, friends, and visiting grandchildren.
The Creative Team
To bring her imaginary world to life, Sue partnered with Jane and Neil Smith of Chocolate Dog Studio, based in Māpua, near Nelson.
- Jane Smith provides the full-colour, detailed custom illustrations that give each animal character its unique charm.
- Neil Smith captures the high-end, professional food photography that makes the recipes leap off the page.
After successful careers in London's design and advertising agencies, Jane and Neil moved to New Zealand in 2002 to focus full-time on illustration and photography. Working alongside Sue and Don since the inception of the Tangleby range, they seamlessly combine their talents to bring the series of magical world and delicious recipes to life on every page.
About the Tangleby Series
The Tangleby Gardens series uniquely weaves together whimsical narratives for young readers (aged 2–12) with real, step-by-step recipes for young cooks, creating the perfect opportunity for safe adult-child bonding in the kitchen.
- The Adventure: The overarching story follows two newly married rabbits, Montgomery and Marmalade, whose city warren is destroyed by a yellow digger. Guided by skylarks, they escape to Tangleby Gardens and establish a safe haven in the playhouse, encountering various animal friends along the way.
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The Kitchen: The food featured in the stories is seamlessly integrated into the text as dedicated recipe pages. To ensure safety and confidence for young chefs, these recipes are clearly graded by difficulty using a "tomato" rating system:
- 🍅 1 Tomato: Very easy
- 🍅🍅 2 Tomatoes: Moderate difficulty
- 🍅🍅🍅 3 Tomatoes: Some skill required
From illustration-rich children’s stories to beautifully shot cookbooks, the entire collection is designed to inspire a lifelong love for both reading and cooking in the next generation.