There comes a point when the group chat has been saying, “We really must organise a weekend away,” for so long that the original suggested dates are now considered historical records.

Someone proposes a weekend. Three people say they’re free. One person disappears from the conversation entirely. Another starts a poll nobody completes. Then six months pass and you all agree that you really must organise something soon.

Consider this your intervention.

Just a short drive from Auckland, Vineyard Cottages is tucked among the vines in beautiful Kumeū wine country. It feels wonderfully secluded, yet you can get here without boarding a plane, locating your passport or standing barefoot in an airport security queue while somebody examines your shampoo.

Our seven private cottages are surrounded by vineyards and gardens, providing plenty of space to relax, catch up and remember why you became friends before life turned into work, children, washing and increasingly dramatic WhatsApp voice notes.

For the ultimate girls’ weekend, book Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir together.

Sauvignon Blanc has our largest private cedar hot tub, perfect for a long soak with your favourite people and a glass of something cold. Pinot Noir sits next door and is our cosiest cottage, with a log burner and room for up to three guests. Together, they make an excellent base for a weekend of good food, great wine and conversations that cover relationships, careers, families, hormones and that appalling thing someone did in 2007 that has still not been properly forgiven.

Best of all, nobody has to host.

Nobody needs to clean their house before everyone arrives, apologise for the state of the spare room or pretend the pile of laundry in the corner is waiting to be folded. Nobody has to cook an elaborate dinner while everybody else drinks wine in the kitchen. And nobody has to drive home at the end of the evening, which is fortunate, because by then you’ll all have solved each other’s lives and opened another bottle.

Your weekend begins by arriving, dropping your bags and pouring the first drink before anyone has unpacked properly. This is perfectly acceptable. Toothbrushes can wait.

From there, the weekend is entirely yours.

You could visit the local wineries, settle in for a long vineyard lunch or explore the shops and markets around Kumeū and nearby Muriwai.

Alternatively, you could decide that leaving Vineyard Cottages sounds unnecessarily ambitious.

Put on your dressing gowns. Unpack the snacks. Play songs (or hit play on our Girls Weekend at VC Spotify playlist) you all know far too well and settle in for a proper catch-up, the sort that begins with work and children and somehow ends six hours later with everyone crying, laughing and swearing that this conversation must never leave the cottage.

Winter is especially gorgeous here. The log fires are lit, the cedar hot tubs are steaming and the cottages feel deliciously cosy. There are few things more satisfying than sitting in warm water under a cold winter sky, knowing that nobody can ask you where their shoes are.

In the warmer months, the gardens and vineyard come alive. Pour a glass of local wine, find a sunny spot outside and enjoy the novelty of finishing an entire sentence without being interrupted.

There are no school runs, no overflowing washing baskets and no alarm clocks. If somebody sets an alarm for breakfast, she may need to be removed from the group chat.

You can keep your weekend beautifully simple: two cottages, your favourite people, far too much food and nowhere else to be.

Or you can make it even more indulgent with a grazing platter, breakfast hamper, local wine, private dining or a food-and-wine experience. After all, you have made it out of the group chat and into an actual weekend away. That deserves recognition.

It’s perfect for birthdays, bridal getaways, reunions, pre-wedding escapes, long-overdue catch-ups, celebrating something wonderful or recovering from absolutely everything.

You don’t really need an occasion. Being exhausted and missing your friends is more than enough.

You can finish work, gather the girls and be in wine country that evening. There are no luggage limits, complicated itineraries or arguments about who forgot to book the airport parking. Just a short drive between you and a private cottage, a hot tub and two whole nights during which nobody needs anything from you.

Once you arrive, the pace slows down. The phones are put away, eventually. Somebody lights the fire. Someone else pours the wine. A third person produces an unreasonable quantity of cheese.

And, for a little while, life feels gloriously easy.

There will never be a weekend when everyone’s diary is completely empty. Someone will always have something on. Somebody will need to swap a shift, rearrange childcare or negotiate with a partner who has apparently never looked after their own children before.

Choose the weekend anyway.

Book Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir, pack far too many snacks and come to Vineyard Cottages for the girls’ getaway you have all been promising yourselves.

Because friendships deserve more than rushed coffees, three-minute voice notes and messages that begin, “Sorry it’s taken me six weeks to reply.”

Book your girls’ weekend at Vineyard Cottages and escape to wine country……..before someone starts another poll.