Ararimu: Pathway through the rimu

A modern house with rustic charm, surrounded by ancient trees and fertile farmland, provides a host of options for those wanting a rural lifestyle.

Argyll Farm, 48a Fausett Road, Ararimu. Tucked into a valley at Ararimu five minutes off the southern motorway, Judy Donovan wakes to the sound of tui eating the flax flowers outside her bedroom window.

Central Auckland is less than half an hour away in off-peak traffic, but the city's glow rarely makes it over the hills at Argyll Farm.

"And you can't see the Sky Tower, thank God," says Judy, who bought the 18.5ha block six years ago to raise Perendale-Arapawa cross sheep for her wool products business and to have enough space for her trekking horses.

The first structure she built was a combined barn and studio apartment. One half is large enough for her horse truck, a couple of roomy stalls to tend to Spider and Dougal, a tack room, storage areas for the unprocessed wool and an office.

The other half has a bedroom, bathroom and a large living area with windows opening out onto remnant bush. An ancient taraire tree dominates the view.

The apartment is plumbed for a kitchen, but Judy does her cooking in the main house, built four years ago.

The house, with its rooms falling away either side of a central beam, was inspired by a party at a friend's place.

"It was a place where two people could be comfortable but you can also hold a party for 50," Judy says.

The kitchen and dining area run along the eastern wall of the house, where they catch the sunrise.

On the northeast corner, Judy pushed out an extra room to soak up the sun and give views across the broad deck and down the valley to the west.

"It is an incredibly warm house. The sun works its way round the house from the morning to the sunset," Judy says.

Around the corner from the kitchen is an airy living room with an enclosed fire.

Along the south side of the house there is a wet room with entry from the outside.

"You can come in from the farm, dump your dirty clothes in the washing machine, wash your body and then come through to the living areas," says Judy.

The house is protected from the prevailing southwest winds by the ridges.

The property is framed by two streams running through gullies filled with bush, including large puriri and nikau. Native plantings surround the house.

In keeping with the name Ararimu, or pathway through the rimu, Judy has planted a row of rimu trees down the driveway.

She says the nine properties on the no-exit road form a "lovely neighbourhood" which, because of its distance from any village centre and the fact it is not on the way to anywhere, has little chance of being caught up in the sort of suburban expansion afflicting other parts of Auckland's fringe.

"It is a great community. They are good neighbours. They keep to themselves, but you know they are there," she says.

The decision by Judy's mother, who lives in the main house, to move to a retirement village means Judy is also moving on.

Vital Statistics

SIZE: Land 18.5ha, house including deck 140sq m, studio and barn 280sq m.

INSPECT: Sundays 3-4 pm.

PRICE INDICATION: Interest expected above $1.5 million. Auction June 16.

CONTACT: Cherie Cooper, Barfoot and Thompson, 09 232 0000 bus or 021 778 706.

FEATURES: Four-year-old home with separate guest studio, stables and barn set in rolling farmland and mature native bush. Views from windows which open to sun and bush. Land could be income-producing from raising, for example, stud cattle or brood mares.