Cambridge: Good breeding

CEDRIC GRAY checks out the perfect pad for keeping horses near Cambridge.

Thoroughbred horse studs, high-producing dairy farms and quality lifestyle units line a stretch of SH1, just south of Cambridge. It is known locally as the golden mile.

This is superb breeding country. The soil is fertile and, in the main, well drained. With good management it will produce strong ryegrass and clover growth from early spring until late autumn when stocking rates are high.

It is a region that lends itself to diversification, as James and Vanessa Hart have proved with their 40ha property fronting the highway, with a second entrance off nearby Karapiro Rd. The land is easily identified - there is a well-trimmed barberry hedge on almost half a kilometre of highway frontage.

The Harts have combined horse breeding with a fast-growing commercial company, Equine Herbs, the herbal products being produced in an outbuilding near the house.

The property has a long association with thoroughbred breeding. Before James and Vanessa bought the property about 10 years ago it was known as Kiteroa Stud, the resident stallions including Young Runnaway and Imperial Seal.

The Harts, however, have concentrated on breeding dressage and eventing horses with a band of 15 broodmares and the thoroughbred stallion Haajiisan, who has already won his share of glory as the sire of Reddy Teddy and the ill-fated Chesterfield, who died on the eve of the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Reddy Teddy is one of Blyth Tait's mounts at Athens.

The horses have the run of several well-fenced paddocks linked by about 600m of all-weather races. During summer, they often graze the lower flats, an area of about 20ha. On a second title, it has two stony streams, a waterfall and patches of native bush.

There is good stable accommodation for about 12 horses, a sand-based lunge ring and a set of cattle loading yards. Other outbuildings include a 518sq m shed, which could easily be converted into a calf-rearing facility.

The comfortable three-bedroom home is surrounded by mature trees. There is a sound two-bedroom cottage nearby, which is set in tidy lawns and gardens, and a single unit attached to the stable block.

The Harts intend moving to Wales and the property is listed with Don Thompson Rural Estate, Hamilton. For more details, contact Don on 07 854 5553 or 021 960 415 mob.