Sue & David are owners of Thorvald and Little River Estate dairies and The Junction shop in Appleby, Richmond. They moved to Nelson in May 2003 with their eldest daughter Tessa who now works at the Junction having returned (fortuitously) from Christchurch in Feb 2020. They have two more children, Helena and Blake. All the kids attended Appleby Primary School, Waimea Intermediate, and Helena & Blake are currently at Waimea College. Sue originally hails from a small farming community in the southern Hawkes Bay and met David while they were both working and living in Auckland. They knew raising a family and growing old in a big city wasn’t for them. Sunny Nelson and David’s enthusiasm convinced Sue that Nelson was to be their new ‘forever’ home. Sue & David came to Nelson in 2002 to be married and it was while on their honeymoon in the Tasman region they bought their home in Redwood Valley which remains the family home today. Since relocating here in 2003 they have established, run, owned, and/or co-owned several well-known local businesses including both Stoke & Nelson fruit & vege stores and the Sprig & Fern brewery plus several S&F taverns. These businesses engrained them in Nelson and the experience proved invaluable for their next venture. After purchasing the old Neudorf Dairy site in Upper Moutere in 2015, a chance meeting with a young French cheesemaker (Francis) and a young shepherd (Julie) set them on a new path and Thorvald was born. David’s heritage is Danish, his parents immigrated from Denmark to NZ in the early 1950s. David’s father (John), whose middle name was Thorvald, had been a cheesemaker in Denmark, so it seemed appropriate to name their new sheep milk cheesemaking venture Thorvald in honor of David’s parents. Thorvald expanded to include Little River Estate in 2017 and then the Junction in 2018 when they took over the old Wangapeka cheese shop. Sue & David are incredibly grateful to their amazing team and recognize any achievements they have made are only possible with the help of the fantastic people around them. Their commitment to Nelson/Tasman is set in stone. Sue and David are staunchly proud locals and incredibly grateful to this amazing region and its people for the support they’ve shown over the years. This is definitely home forever!

Virginnia has been part of the Junction team for a while but has been selling, eating, and educating about cheese for many years. She has worked with industry leaders like, Simon Johnson, who opened the first walk-in fromagerie in Sydney and Will Studd, the master of cheese, who you may know from his TV series Cheese Slices. She grew up in Nelson and returned with her family last year after 20 years overseas. She loves food and cooking, her husband is a keen gardener so much of their produce is homegrown. The Junctions no additives or nasties policy is important to her. Virginnia was inducted into the prestigious French Guilde Internationale des Fromagers, with the title Garde et Juré (guard and judge) for her work with French specialty cheese; and is one of only 3 people in Australasia to be awarded the American Cheese Society title of Certified Cheese Professional. She really knows her stuff and looks forward to sharing her passion, and love for all things dairy with the junction community.

Sharon may be a familiar face – before joining The Junction team she worked at the Richmond Mall and has also worked as a health professional in a number of different roles for 30 plus years in both NZ and Australia so you certainly may recognise her from somewhere. Sharon was born in Wellington and raised on a farm in the Orinoco valley. A country girl at heart. She is married and has 3 grown-up sons who have made her family truly multi-cultural by marrying partners from China, Germany and Samoa. The family has grown to include 3 grandsons and 1 granddaughter plus a gorgeous grand fur baby. In the winter months Sharon loves to knit and is a ferocious reader, so make sure to ask her what she has on the go currently. She has recently rediscovered her love of cooking and makes a mean feijoa chutney which cheese enjoys alongside a blue or sheep milk cheese with a glass of wine. Her generous nature and genuine love of people makes her a welcome addition to the team.

Shena is a Kiwi by birth, who was lucky enough to spend her formative year living all over the world, thanks to her Dad’s career as a virologist. She has 4 gorgeous kids and lives on a sheep farm where she spends her free time, which is not much, with four kids, making and creating art. A teacher by trade, she has taught across kindergarten, primary and secondary school and in recent years has been teaching senior seated exercise classes. And yes, the 95-year-old students are just as cheeky as the 5-year-olds! Shena says she is thrilled to have recently joined the Junction crew as she is passionate about local products, businesses and most importantly people. Cheese and wine – what could be better.

Miranda is a true local, living just 5 minutes which means she can bike to work. She has been working at the Junction as part of a gap year, which has been extended till late August 2022 after which she heads to London, Cello in tow, to study at the Royal Academy of Music. As a massive cheese fan, she doesn’t think there’s a single cheese in the shop that she doesn’t enjoy or wouldn’t recommend! Her favourite part of her job is giving people tastes of the different cheeses, and seeing their big smiles as we send them away with a box of goodies. When not working Miranda can be found practising the cello and attending rehearsals in Nelson, she also loves getting into the great outdoors to go tramping and cycling with her family, often with a large wedge of cheese in tow!