Keeping the peace in Mahurangi

592 Cowan Bay Rd Mahurangi. Photo / Geoff Dale

592 COWAN BAY RD MAHURANGI

6

3

2

SIZE: Land 3ha, house 370sq m, bach 30sq m.

PRICE INDICATION: Interest expected over $2 million.

INSPECT: By appointment.

ON THE WEB: www.bayleys.co.nz/183306

SCHOOL ZONES: Warkworth Primary School, Mahurangi College.

CONTACT: John Ledingham, Bayleys, ph (09) 425 7640 or 027 578 6629.

FEATURES: Unique lifestyle property overlooking the Mahurangi Harbour, with four-bedroom house, two-bedroom bach and separate office. Bach is converted shearers' quarters right on the harbour, reclad with macrocarpa milled from the property and has a deck that extends over the water. Main homestead, also featuring timber milled from the property, has excellent flow out to covered veranda and landscaped gardens beyond.

It doesn't take long after leaving urban Auckland to find yourself seemingly deep in New Zealand's rural heartland - just a few hundred metres off State Highway 1 on Cowan Bay Rd and the shingle starts.

As you drive along, you'll encounter many other trappings of rural life - dogs enjoying the breeze in their ears on the backs of utes, possibly even a small herd of steers being moved between paddocks.

At the end of the road, through the gates of 592 Cowan Bay Rd, views across the Mahurangi Harbour open up before you.

Peter Sullivan saw the property 12 years ago when he was looking for an escape from the Auckland rat race. Then marketed as a full 120ha farm, it was too big for his needs, but he figured the agent was likely to have properties that suited him more.

"He said, 'Come out and have a look at the farm and tell me what it is you like."'

So he did and they spent a day viewing other properties. "At the end of the day, I said 'Take me back to that farm."'

At the time, the property featured a fairly standard three-bedroom bungalow farmhouse, but it also had old shearers' quarters right on - actually over - the harbour.

Those quarters, which originally had just use rights but have now been fully consented, were first for renovation. Peter turned them into a unique, peaceful and isolated bolt-hole for those wanting to get away from it all.

Although the renovation of the harbourside hideaway left many of its quirky original features intact (the floors aren't entirely level, angles aren't entirely straight, doors aren't all the same height), the farmhouse was in for a complete transformation.

The original structure now forms one wing of the house, and has become a massive open-plan kitchen/dining/living room, with bifold doors and windows everywhere, opening to a large covered veranda - all with spectacular views of the Mahurangi Harbour.

There's also a lounge/media room and a large laundry where the back porch used to be. The floors are original and the joinery mostly wooden - much of it matai milled off the farm.

That joinery continues in the new part of the house on the other side of the double-height entranceway.

Downstairs are two double bedrooms, each opening to another deck, and a guest bathroom. Upstairs are two more enormous bedrooms, with the master bedroom sharing those fabulous views of the harbour, and with a spacious en suite.

As he was running his business from the property, Peter also transformed the original garage into a large, well-appointed office, set up for every modern need.

Peter paid as much attention to the landscape as he did to the buildings, creating a garden with something for everyone.

There are olive and citrus trees; an in-ground trampoline and play area for his young son; sheltered "rooms" to quietly sit and read; expansive lawns. Because he loves the scents of the night wafting into the home in the middle of summer, Peter planted queen of the night, port wine magnolia and other fragrant plants.

With a daughter in her 30s, a grandchild and a young son, Peter says his aim was to create a modern family-friendly home that his family would love visiting and living in.

But spending four hours a day driving his young son to and from Wentworth School has made him reconsider, and he's looking to downsize and move closer to Auckland again. He's split the property in two, with this, the homestead section, first to go on the market.