Casual visitors to the Highbury shopping village or the stylish library at Birkenhead may have no idea that a few hundred metres down the road is a magic pocket of bush.
Certainly Neil and Gill Prentice, who had lived around other streets in the points of Birkenhead and Northcote, hadno idea of the bush and bird-life that awaited them when they bought their 1980s house on Inkster St 21 years ago.
The property, tucked at the end of the hillside cul de sac, had been carved off one of the grand old villas in Rawene Ave, part of the Victorian neighbourhood that housed workers and managers for the Chelsea Sugar Works on the harbour below.
The two-storeyed cedar house was designed in the 1980s, with classic proportions that have aged well. The facade of windows, bays and terraces facing the street are framed under a generous hip roof. At front is a landscaped pool terrace and driveway, with cedar steps leading up the side of the house to the back yard.
But it is inside that the setting that wooed Neil and Gill becomes apparent. From the kitchen bay, with windows that peel back in the summer, to the cathedral-ceilinged living room, the focus is on the view across the bush valley and the harbour to the city and Harbour Bridge.
The couple updated the kitchen 10 years ago with white cabinets and sleek stone counters, but the serious view tends to divert visitors no matter how good the decor. The sheltered balcony off the dining area is a favourite for morning coffees while the couple watch the birdlife in the rimu, kauri and pohutukawa around them.
A neighbour feeds the tui so the bush track up through a lane to Rawene Rd is filled with birdsong. Another neighbour has been restoring the bush and clearing weeds, it's that sort of community.
"The house suits us well, it's worked for all ages and stages of our girls," says Gill. "When we moved here they were 8 and 6, so we've used rooms in different ways as they've got older. We put the pool in for them, but I'm the one who is going to miss it the most when we move. I love my morning swims."
Image 1 of 8: Community feeling is alive and well in this little-known North Shore enclave. Photos / Ted Baghurst
The couple, like many whose children have long left the nest, are moving to a city-based apartment and plan to spend more time at the bach on Waiheke that they've had since the 1980s.
When they bought the Inkster St house, the front garden was overgrown, but 15 years ago they re-landscaped to create a sunny pool terrace on the front, upgrading driveway and entrance at the same time. French doors open to a large downstairs bedroom, with walk-in closet. At various times it has been the girls' playroom, a rumpus/party room and an apartment for returning travellers.
The main living floor is zoned into two, with a cosy television space that opens to the back yard and a bigger living room with fireplace and view. The timber ceilings add drama to the space, a half-wall dividing the zones without breaking the lines.
The sunny back garden has had a recent renovation when the couple had to remove a 120-year-old walnut tree, and now has a terraced lawn and new hedging surrounding the refurbished dining deck.
Gill points to the gates that connect all the surrounding houses, laughing that everyone got sick of handing children over the fence to share play-dates and swims, showing an old-fashioned sense of neighbourhood remains. The huge feijoa tree supplies everyone with fruit in the autumn; there have been plenty of parties, planned and unplanned, over the years.
The living area floor also houses two good bedrooms and a modernised family bathroom. "The avocado suite went fairly soon after we moved here," says Gill.
One of the bedrooms has a delightful loft playroom that enchanted small visitors, and is now useful storage. The upstairs floor of the house is Neil and Gill's, with the open-plan landing being a perfect office space for Neil, who works from home.
It has views to sea and city, or down to the back yard, certainly beating a city pad. As well as the generous master bedroom, closet and en suite there is a further little library/office room tucked into this level, with its own delightful framed slip of a view.
The couple are making the most of their last weeks in the house, taking in the views and birds before they move on, but are sure the next family will love this setting for the next few decades.
