Coatesville: Glide on by

Not one but two rare slices of waterfront land offer boaties a multiple choice of building sites.

23 James Paige Lane, Coatesville

As a rower, Brett Beavis would often glide past the Coatesville property he and his wife Raewyn now own.

"For training we'd row up to Riverhead from Westhaven and we'd sometimes get out at Jonkers Point to have a rest and change over in the boats," recalls Brett, who won five national titles in sculling.

Back then, in the 1970s and 1980s, it was unimaginable that the 6.5ha waterfront section would one day be his.

Probably as unimaginable, once he bought it, would be one day selling it. But that's what he and Raewyn are preparing to do after 18 years.

The property, which has glorious views over the upper Waitemata, across Whenuapai and beyond, has been divided into three lots and is a mixture of pasture and bush as well as a stand of redwood trees that the Beavises planted.

Two of the lots - totalling 5.4ha - are for sale - both unique waterfront properties. The water access from the property is used by the Beavis children, aged 3 to 15, to play around in a dinghy and canoes. It's a safe waterway and is ideal for waterskiing, jetskiing or sailing from a nearby concrete boatramp.

Brett says the Jonkers family has farmed the surrounding land since the early 1900's, but has sold off some of the land over the years.

The Beavis family has lived on their property in a converted barn. This was a stopgap measure until they built their home.

Raewyn laughs, "We've been here 18 years and we could never decide where to put the house.

"We had been spending a lot of time getting this land nice for ourselves to build on but then we said, 'Stop!'. We decided we just wanted to buy a nice house that someone had already built somewhere else.

"Now we've got four kids and we seem to be gaining more and more horses and spending less and less time at home. With the kids we need a house with more bedrooms and bathrooms - and we need enough space for all the horses. They're spread out all over the country at the moment so it would be good to have them in one place."

Brett adds, "It was just too hard to maintain the whole property, especially when you've got four kids, each with different sports."

The couple has been busy putting in drains, driveways and fences, the latter so they can get some sheep on to the property to keep the grass down.

Brett says one of the advantages of the properties is the numerous building sites available to the new owner, including what was to be a horse arena.

"You could just see the horses going around that arena," Raewyn says wistfully. "It would have been beautiful, but it would also make a great building platform."

Vital Statistics

SIZE: Lot 2 - 2ha with 133m water frontage; Lot 3 - 3.4ha with 144m water frontage.

PRICE INDICATION: Similar waterfront land is selling in excess of $700,000. Expressions of interest close June 9.

INSPECT: Final viewing Sunday, 3pm-4pm.

CONTACT: Shona Jurlina, Curnow Realty Limited (Bayleys Group), ph 417 0017, mob 021 997 022.

FEATURES: A beautiful waterside location on a 3.4ha or 2ha site.