Coatesville: Where wildlife reigns

VICKI HOLDER enjoys a day out with the ducks at this wonderful rural dream of a home.

Sensitive to its natural rural environs, a home and landscape foster an enticingly tranquil haven away from the city.

The Frans Kamermans-designed home looks out over large interconnecting ponds fringed by native plantings of pittosporum, cabbage trees, flax and akeake.

But Jim and Jean Mathieson's home in Coatesville is not just a beautiful natural oasis. For it provides them with a rental income and gives their tenant, who lives above the potting shed, a viable livelihood from a wholesale nursery. The nursery specialises in tuberous begonias and fuchsias and occupies about 4000sq m of the 5.4ha property.

Originally from Scotland, Jim explains when they first bought the property in 1991, the full potential of the land wasn't realised as it was overgrown with gorse and scrub. Experience running garden centres in Christchurch taught them how to take the easy route to success with a scheme incorporating plants that grow best in this country.

Jim was also a lecturer for Lincoln College's landscape design course, and it was during that time he became convinced that water had to be a key element of any large landscape. As a result, ponds and dams were established well before any planting could be undertaken.

The first thing they did when they came here was build the house, which was inspired by traditional rural structures and forms, such as sheds, outhouses, barns and silos.

Jim recalls driving through the country with Frans identifying key features of rural buildings. They kept returning to the arch of the barn and the tube-like form of the silo. "I felt so many rural houses were simply town transplants. My idea was you should be able to let yourself go a bit out here and do something evocative of the country."

Kamermans' design is made up of simple geometric elements; a curve, a cylinder and the horizontal line of the carport that extends to the entry door. Walls are punctuated by simple classical shapes; a circular window, a square window and the rectangle of the entry door.

Sheathed in ColorSteel, both roof and walls give a pleasing sculptural effect. The silo cylinder houses the stairway and the big arch shelters two living levels.

Inside, the floorplan is surprisingly conventional. Two bedrooms sit on each side downstairs, while the master bedroom with a dressing room, lounge and study are above. The open-plan living, dining area and kitchen step out to a huge outdoor deck on the ground floor. Both floors take maximum advantage of the sun. The northern face is mainly glass for a peaceful rural outlook over the lake. "We spend a large part of our time sitting in the house or on the deck with that as our view, enjoying a meal or a cup of tea," says Jim.

The bonus of the curved roof, he says, are the acoustics. "You wouldn't believe the music from the stereo wasn't live. We positioned the speakers carefully to achieve this. That was my contribution. Because there was a certain amount of flexibility as the project proceeded, you could take advantage of things that weren't anticipated."

He has no doubt that the thing that makes the property special is its tranquillity. "My son had the philosophy that we needed to interface with the wildlife rather than kill it. The landscaping has helped to attract the ducks. One of the walks is named Fantail Walk because of the number of fantails that flock here.

"It's so quiet. It makes it very difficult to be away from home on business. But when you return it's like coming back to a haven."

Vital Statistics

ADDRESS: 45 Croft Ln, Coatesville.

FEATURES: Lifestyle property with income from wholesale nursery; three-bedroom home designed by architect Frans Kamermans; open-plan living downstairs; lounge and study upstairs; three interconnecting lakes and dams; solar panels for heating on roof.

SIZE: Land area 5.4ha.

AUCTION: 2pm, September 22, Bayleys city rooms.

AGENT: Shona Jurlina, Bayleys North West. Ph 416 7788 bus; 021 997 022 mob