Offering...

Bed & Breakfast facilities. Overnight accommodation for individuals, couples and small groups up to 12 persons. Ideal for day or weekend retreats, conferences, business seminars, marriage enrichment seminars, group training. These can be either self-facilitated or facilitated by our staff - or by recommended facilitators. God focused creative prayer retreats are our specialty.

a place for group retreats, business seminars & conferences.
a place for individuals or couples needing 'time out.'
a place for a bed & breakfast.

Come to the quiet...

Berakah House is a fully catered retreat centre in a tranquil country setting one hour's drive north of Auckland. It is located on the beautiful Mahurangi Peninsula, which holds many popular tourist destinations including unspoiled beaches, native bush walks, horse trekking, snorkeling, diving and fishing. Close by is Warkworth township which had a number of great cafes and specialty shops.

Facilities available...

There are number of tastefully decorated bedrooms, offering double, twin share and single accommodation for a maximum of 12 persons.
A large garden...relax on the verandah and enjoy the views.
A conservatory...a real sun catcher
Lounge/dinning area which is available for use as a training room.
Separate lounge/dinning area catering for up to 12 people.

History of the Vision of Berakah Retreat.

The part of the farm that is now called Berakah Retreat was originally purchased in 1873 by Edward Morrison. He was a committed Christian and would row across the river to run a house Church/Sunday School for families along the Mahurangi River.

The peaceful valley where Berakah is situated was always seen as a Vaiiley of Blessing. Edward established the largest commercial fruit orchard in the Southern Hemisphere there in the 1800's. Over 180 acres of trees, plus a large nursery sending disease free fruit trees back to orchardists in Europe.

Ian Morrison, Edwards Great Grandson and his wife Jyl purchased the family property of 525 acres in 1971 with a 100% mortgage. In an effort to keep the property, they had to subsidize the income of the farm with a woodwork business where they created beautiful things from swamp kauri. Stress however eventually got the better of them and they began to struggle in their relationship.

Jyl had given her heart to the Lord at the age of 12 years but her family were not Church goers so she really did not know the ways of the Lord, but in a desperate moment she cried out to the Lord and fell on her knees crying. She felt this amazing peace and as she lay there, on the floor she had a vision that they were to build all these houses on the farm where people could come to take time out.

She was so overwhelmed she had no idea how long she was there, but time seemed to stand still. She raced along to the workshop where Ian was to tell him. Ian was not a Christian at the time, but he was intrigued with what she had to say. "Great idea." he said, "But forget it, we have no money and how can we do such a thing." After saying that they did dream a little together about it but eventually the idea faded away. This was 1974.

In 1979 Jyl and their two daughters started going to Church and that year Ian came to the Lord. On visiting friends on day they heard about Christian Community for the first time and the vision that Jyl had had all those years before came back to them.

It is a long story but, in a nut-shell they met Robbie and Marg Taylor who also had had a vision for Community and had been living at Orama on Great Barrier Island to investigate what Christian Community was like.

Ian and Jyl had a piece of land that a neighbor had wanted to buy, and a partial survey had been done on it, but the neighbor changed his mind so in 1980 a proposal was put to the Council to develop this land as a Christian Community. The Council declined it but two years later at a tribunal hearing that decision was overturned and they were given the go-ahead. It was extremely exciting and so began the journey, and what a journey it has been through good times and bad, but where they have seen many lives changed through the love of Christ and their dedication and commitment, along with the support of many other people who had captured the vision and lived and served in this beautiful valley that belongs to the Lord.