SCHOOL ZONES:
Kaipara Flats School, Mahurangi College.
CONTACT:
Jeneen Binsted, Harcourts, 0275 367 107.
AUCTION:
November 7 on site 2pm.
When Sandra Olliff met her future husband, he came with an impressive sweetener -- a historic villa and farm right next to the charming country village of Kaipara Flats.
"I really loved the place right from the start -- it made Neil very attractive," she says, laughing.
"It was the best of both worlds: being on a farm, but right in the village and a short distance from Warkworth and Auckland."
And so the city girl became a country woman -- teaching at the local school (a short walk away), raising two daughters, gardening, strolling down to the historic hall or church for social occasions, and sitting on the committee of the tiny Kaipara Flats Library. (Library membership comes with a key so you can let yourself in.)
Neil had bought the property in the mid-1960s from a couple of bachelor brothers. The deal was done on a handshake, and Neil then went away to scrape up the money.
The house dated back to the 1880s, and the property had served as a family home, a dairy farm, accommodation for travellers on the railway that once terminated at Kaipara Flats Station, and a storage depot for American soldiers when they were stationed nearby in World War II.
When Neil bought the farm, it was little more than a house sitting in the middle of a paddock, with a walk-through milking shed and stables. The house was divided into half a dozen small rooms to accommodate travellers, the kitchen was in a lean-to, and the privy was on the back porch. Because of its central spot in the village, it was a social place to farm, with friends regularly dropping in on their way past.
He built an internal bathroom and, as you did in those days, covered up the horribly old-fashioned kauri floorboards, stuck plywood over the original solid wood doors and installed flat false ceilings over the higher moulded ones.
Herald Homes 25 Old Woodcocks Road Kaipara Flats Rodney. Photo / Supplied
Fortunately, the unsympathetic renovations were easily undone when turn-of-the-century features came back into fashion. In the years since, Sandra and Neil have restored and extended the house in keeping with its roots, and developed the lawns, gardens and grounds, and today it's a landmark in the still-charming village.
They've subdivided the farm, leaving the house with nearly four hectares, including several outbuildings.
As with all good country homes, the heart of the house lies in a farmhouse-style kitchen and dining area, which adjoins a formal lounge and a pool room, and opens out to a deck via French doors. Outdoor living is well catered for, with a large deck and veranda along the northern frontage, a patio that can be enclosed or open, and a spa pool in a conservatory-style setting. As well as the four bedrooms and office in the main house, a new loft space above a double garage gives extra living and accommodation options.
Between them, Neil and Sandra have four children and six grandchildren, and Sandra says the home has been a wonderful spot to raise children and host the family for events.
"It's a lovely place for families. There's always something for kids to do here."
After half a century, Neil has finally decided it's time to retire from farming (he's 80 next year), so the couple are downsizing to a house in Orewa.
"It's been a marvellous place to live in, a special place," says Sandra. "We've been very blessed. We're very attached to the property, and it's hard to see it go but it's time to move on.
"It's been lovely to live in a house with so much history, and to feel we have added to that history. Now it's time for someone else to add their own history."
