Heritage home all ready for next chapter

MOD CONS: Owner Sue Fox has loved cooking and entertaining in the modern but heritage-look kitchen. PHOTOS/VOMLE SPRINGFORD

Another South Wairarapa heritage building is up for sale - the Hodder homestead in Featherston.

In over 100 years, it has been a home to the Hodder family, a police constable and was used as a boarding house.

Walter Hodder and his wife Emma Gooding arrived in New Zealand from England in 1842, settling in Wellington and then establishing The Golden Fleece hotel and stables on the Upper Hutt side of the Rimutakas. He bought land, for farming, in Featherston and eventually they moved to the house on Wakefield St.

The current owner, Sue Fox, bought the four-bedroom home six years ago, partly because for its heritage appeal.

She had previously lived in a 200-year-old house in Yorkshire, England, where she is from.

"I couldn't resist buying another historic piece."

While it was thought to have been built between 1880 and 1890, Ms Fox said it could have been built in the 1860s.

"It has Georgian windows rather than Victorian which makes me think it's much earlier."

She said another indication was the veranda roof being convex, rather than concave and there was no fretwork.

According to a previous owner, at one stage, the house was used as a boarding house and about 30 Chinese workers camped on the veranda behind canvas awnings. Huge cooking fires were lit on the grounds and around 120 people were eating at any one time. Another time, there was a small grocer's store in the shed at the back.

Ms Fox said it also starred in a Pink Bats commercial and was used as a set in the 1990 movie Mars is Heaven.

She and previous owners have lovingly restored the Heritage NZ-listed house and she has done a lot of work on the grounds.

The garage was built around the same time and was originally a large grain store.

The house is insulated, borer free and constructed with heart rimu - the hardest wood from the core of the tree. It's built of first-class materials," she said. "You get the best of a modern house but in a beautiful period setting."

Ms Fox said her favourite part of the house was the kitchen as she loves cooking and entertaining and she'd had plenty of good parties. "I've really enjoyed living here but it's time to move on."

Ms Fox is downsizing and has bought a 46 sq metre home in Featherston.