"In 1918 my grandfather bought this property and my children are 6th generation Brookby," says Mike Embling, who is now selling the farm.
Mike knows a lot about the history of the place.
"At one stage there was a flour mill here, and tennis courts where the locals played on Saturdays. They weren't allowed to play on Sundays for religious reasons. So we have paddocks called Mill Paddock and Tennis Court Paddock."
Originally a dairy farm, then sheep and beef, the 19-plus hectare block is flat and easy with an appealing spread of mature, exotic and native trees, including redwood, kahikatea and totara. Mike's father was passionate about trees and belonged to the Farm Forestry Association, hosting many field days on his farm.
"He spent the first half of his life cutting trees down for farming and the second half planting them. He liked his exotics but there's a good smattering of natives as well."
Mike says the best things about the land are the contour and the three planted streams.
"We had great fun as kids eeling and making dams and in the old days all the local kids learned to swim there.
"There are very few dairy farms in the area now so these days the stream is in better order than it's been for many years."
Image 1 of 4: Rural treasure offers a family home on vast farmland with proximity to shops and motorway.
In 1997, Mike's parents sold an 8000sq m block to build a new family home on the farm.
Having had such a long association with the land, they were able to choose the ideal location for the building, siting it well back and a good distance from the roads.
With space to spare, they designed easy car access to the double garage, plenty of paved parking and an attractively planted roundabout in front of the house. It's a classic country farmhouse in brick and tile and sits easily in the landscape at the end of a well-planted driveway.
There are views to the hills and across the paddocks and their stands of trees.
The 205sq m home has three bedrooms, one with an en suite; a modern kitchen with tiled floor, and spacious dining and living areas.
It has more windows than most farm houses of the era so it's light, sunny and warm -- much warmer, Mike recalls, than the original house on the property, which had no insulation.
Located on the corner of Brookby Rd, it has two road frontages, and is midway between the Botany Downs and Great South Rd shopping areas and the Southern Motorway. Brookby Primary School and the popular Papatoetoe Pony Club are just across the road.
The Brookby area was originally established as a farming community with just a few residents, and was first named Turanga Creek.
Urban myth has it that when residents realised their mail was being sent to Tauranga, they called for a name change and Brookby was chosen because the one post office was by the Papakura Stream.
