It's been a busy year so far for Ngaire Evans and Jim Henchman. There have been family weddings, with the couple's sons, Isaac and Owen, both getting married in the past six weeks. Ngaire and Jim have also put their family home in Westmere's William Denny Ave on the market.
They bought it 21 years ago when the boys were 10 and 7, moving from a Ponsonby villa on a "too small" 336sq m section. "We wanted our kids to have the same sort of childhood we had, making huts, climbing trees and playing hide and seek," Ngaire recalls.
When they first saw this Westmere bungalow on nearly quarter of an acre, they were smitten. "We just fell in love with it. It was like a secret garden." Unlike Westmere's other avenues, which were sub-divided in the 1920s with a standard section size of approximately 430sq m, William Denny Ave has larger section sizes. Besides number 36's generous 997sq m, over the back fence was a large Faulder Ave property with abundant greenery, home to the late Auckland coroner Mate Frankovich, who died five years ago. Even though they were only minutes away from the central city, this property seemed like it was in the countryside, yet Ngaire was still able to get her Ponsonby fix by walking to her old neighbourhood with a friend in the weekends.
Ngaire and Jim made the house their own by adding a classic Westmere "pop-top", an upper level containing an extremely large master bedroom, en suite and balcony to take in views of Cox's Bay and the inner Waitemata harbour over to the Chelsea Sugar Refinery.
