Gateway to a golden age in Matakana

25 Rosemount Rd, Matakana. Photo / Ollie Dale

25 ROSEMOUNT RD MATAKANA

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SIZE: Land 5.33ha, house 254sq m.

PRICE INDICATION: $1.8 million.

INSPECT: Sunday 1pm or by appointment.

ON THE WEB: www.premium.co.nz/TAK8064

SCHOOL ZONES: Matakana Primary, Mahurangi College.

CONTACT: John Angus, Premium, ph 021 344 125.

FEATURES: Double-storey, 110-year-old kauri homestead on 5.33ha of land planted with heritage roses, heritage fruit trees and 150 olive trees. House has many original features, including fireplaces, some board-and-batten ceilings and totara staircase. Replumbed and rewired in 2001.

As we step into the kitchen with a bunch of scented heritage roses Libby Dykes has picked for me out of her garden, she goes to get a photo she was talking about.

Taken in the 1890s, it shows three men from the Cruikshank family in front of two enormous kauri logs. The kauri, from this property, had just been felled and was about to be milled and built into the house we are now standing in.

It is, as Libby says several times, a house full of history. Governor George Grey used to stay at the property and Libby points out the two large cabbage trees he gave the family as a gift, still standing where they were planted.

In 2001, Libby and her late partner Charlie became the first people outside the Cruikshank family to own the home. They fell in love with its history and ambience, and set about turning it into a bed and breakfast business offering others a chance to experience its captivating character. Inside, Charlie renovated as faithfully as possible, while ensuring the three large double guest rooms upstairs had enough room for en suites. Thankfully, various generations
of the Cruikshank family had retained original features such as the fireplaces, totara staircase and, in the lounge at least, the original kauri board-and-batten ceiling.

But the dining room ceiling had been lowered, with the kauri used for wall panelling. Few of the downstairs rooms had access to the covered veranda that wrapped around the eastern and northern sides of the house. Only one bedroom had access to the matching upstairs veranda.

As well as raising ceilings back to their original height and adding en suites, Charlie and Libby added French doors from most rooms out to the verandas. And they extended from the kitchen to add more private family living space and a family bathroom.

Outside, Libby was busy in the garden, not only planting those heritage roses, but also fruit trees, olive trees and vegetable gardens.

The result is a house Libby says causes people to visibly relax as soon as they step inside. "One elderly man whose mother had lived here said we put it back the way it was."

Unlike modern homes, this house is, as was the norm in the 1890s, still divided into definite rooms. From the front door (if you can take your eyes off the view of the hills and valleys behind you), the formal lounge, complete with original fireplace, is on your right.

On your left, but mostly accessed through the kitchen, is a room Libby uses as her bedroom, but which could also be another sitting room. Further down on the right is the formal dining room, with its original fireplace and walls half-panelled in kauri.

Across the hallway is the large kitchen, lined in macrocarpa from the property, with a woodburner with wet-back that feeds the downstairs hot water system. This extends to the new (but complementary) extension with a small family living area and bathroom and, with Libby's bedroom, forms the private part of the house if the rest is run as a B&B.

Out the back door is a covered patio, off which is the old potting room, now a delightful office looking out through grapevine-adorned windows to the swimming pool beyond.

Upstairs are the three double bedrooms with their own en suites - and access to the veranda and views - and another single bedroom, which Libby uses to house her linen.

Libby, who previously had a rose business in town, says when she arrived on the property her first reaction was "Oh my God, I've found my dream home". Once she got upstairs and saw the view from the veranda, both she and Charlie said "We found it".

Now that it's time to move on, she hopes this beautiful piece of living history will have the same effect on its new owners.