Albany: Head for the hills

For real community spirit and an idyllic rural lifestyle, check out this fabulous family home within easy reach of the city. By VICKI HOLDER.


Part of a supportive, like-minded neighbourhood, this blissful lifestyle property in Albany takes the isolation out of rural living.

You can't see the other houses as you drive down the peaceful poplar-lined drive, but owners Michelle and Kerry Conway say when you live here, just 20 minutes from the city, you never feel lonely.

Since they moved here four years ago, the whole family has been quickly assimilated into a close-knit social circle.

Like the Conways, just about everyone has a swimming pool - a pivot for entertaining. In summer, if the children are not playing with their friends at home they'll be at one of the neighbour's. Children hop safely between properties all summer long. They play volleyball on the lawn and ride their bikes along the sleepy lanes where there's no traffic to cause concern.

Michelle and Kerry often mingle with friends around the barbecue or play a game of petanque over a glass of wine. And when sheep shearing time comes along, they all lend a hand.

Relaxing is what this beautiful property is all about, although it wasn't quite like that initially. The Conways put the hard yards in when they first bought the newly completed house as a shell. Offering stylish living, it also had plenty of quality, flat land for horse-riding, which was essential for Michelle who has always been a country girl.

After finishing off details around the house, they added the heated swimming pool, landscaping it with succulents, palms, grasses, groundcovers and native trees to attract bird life.

Michelle made sure everything was low-maintenance. The garden looks lush because it's irrigated, and the pool is always sparkling clean as it has an automatic chemical dispenser, which cuts down on the work.

The living areas have a relaxed, convivial atmosphere revolving around a central rimu kitchen that looks into each room and out over the driveway.

Merging in one big, warm, open-plan area, the formal and casual lounge, with tall, vaulted, timber ceilings, open through glass sliders to a heavenly, north-facing pool and spa complex. Children playing in the pool can get changed and showered in a dedicated room beside the barbecue and spa area.

The wall around the entertainment area ends at schist pillars opposite the house. Opening to a semi-circular lawn enclosed by hedging, it gives a glimpse of the just-completed dressage arena, which allows Michelle to ride her horses all year round.

All on one level, the house is separated into two bedroom wings by the living rooms. Michelle and Kerry escape to their suite, which has a fitted dressing room and en suite. The children enjoy their freedom in smartly decorated rooms at the other end. All except one of the five bedrooms opens to the pool.

A one-bedroom granny flat with a study was built by the original owners to live in during the construction of the rest of the house. Sitting on the other side of the double garaging, this comfortable accommodation offers guests, relatives or teenagers self-contained living with separate access. It doesn't look out to the pool, but it revels in a magnificent view across the lawn to a large pond between paddocks.

Built by the Conways, a barn to the rear of the property is large enough to house a big horse truck, speed boat, tractor, farm bikes and mowers. It also contains two stables, a tack room and a concrete wash-down area for the horses.

There's no shortage of land around the house for all sorts of activities. The Conways run a chicken coop in one area, sheep graze in adjacent paddocks and a fantastic tree hut with a sandpit below beckons from the lawn.

With everything close at hand, it's the kind of easy lifestyle that would tempt the most die-hard of city folk to head for the hills.



ADDRESS: 44 Hardens Lane, Albany.

FEATURES: Modern, six-year-old, one-level home on quality, flat grazing land; five bedrooms with study plus self-contained accommodation with one bedroom and study; swimming pool heated by heat pump; semi-enclosed entertainment area with spa pool, pump room and changing room with shower and toilet; barn with tack room, stables and vehicle storage; landscaped, irrigated garden; all-weather dressage arena.

SIZE: Land area 3.125ha.

AUCTION: 2pm, April 9, at Bayleys Maritime Square auction rooms.

AGENT: Jo Lanigan, Bayleys, North Shore. Ph 489 0965 bus; 027 279 5468 mob.