SCHOOL ZONES:
Red Hill Primary, Mansell Senior School, Papakura High School.
CONTACT:
Karin Viall, Harcourts, 0274 724 176
AUCTION:
July 9, 11am on site.
It doesn't matter where you sit or stand in Wayne and Sheryl Davis' spacious, four-bedroom elevated family home, there's almost always a view and it's absolutely panoramic, taking in the Manukau Heads, Auckland's sprawling suburbs with the Waitakeres in the background, plus the busy international airport. On a clear dayyou can see the Skytower, too, once you've got your bearings.
"And we've also got Ardmore Airport nearby and the Drury Gliding Strip. When one of our sons was learning to glide he'd be looping the loop out in front of the house while we all looked on and cheered," says Sheryl, an administrator for Guide Dogs, who has lived here with her husband Wayne, an electrical contracts manager, for 34 years.
The couple bought the property, which was built around 1970, when their now grown-up sons were small and it proved to be the perfect spot for a carefree childhood with lots of room for the boys to run around and a large section to explore.
"There are many more houses in the neighbourhood now but this place is still perfectly private," says Wayne.
The house offers not just one but three living areas. The first is part of the general living space, which includes a huge kitchen that is neat and tidy but also bursting with renovation potential, a dining space and another area with picture windows. A second living area is set to the side of this room.
Also on this main floor is the family bathroom, spare bedroom and separate laundry while the master bedroom is reached via its own stairs near the front door.
Upstairs is an extension built on by the couple to cater for the boys and their friends during the teenage years. The scene of many rowdy slumber parties and midnight feasts, it has built-in window seats and its own toilet and shower.
Image 1 of 8: Long-term home sits high and handsome with wide-ranging views. Photos / Fiona Goodall, Getty Images
"You could use this space any number of ways," says Sheryl.
"At the moment it's a living room but it could easily be a big bedroom."
The ground level of the sprawling house has another two rooms, one currently an office and the other a library, plus there's the double garage that is internally accessed and could easily be converted to feature more bedrooms or a media room.
Outside, the surprises keep coming, one in the form of a large covered deck with safety glass screens, which is effectively yet another living room. It, too, has the advantage of spectacular views and offers year-round barbecue and entertaining potential.
"We've had many happy family occasions out here," says Wayne.
The section itself is sloping and the couple have planted with ease of care in mind using camellias, agapanthus and hydrangeas.
"We're getting a bit old for doing anything more fiddly in the garden," Sheryl says.
The pair have their sights set on retirement now and a new home at Matarangi on the Coromandel beckons.
"We built it three years ago and we've been gradually moving our bits and pieces over there."
While Margan Place was practically in the countryside all those years ago when the family moved in, it's now close to suburbia and well-served in terms of shops and supermarkets with the ever-growing Papakura and Southgate shopping hubs in the neighbourhood.
Nearby motorway access makes commuting to a city job a viable proposition and what better end to the working day than arriving home, sitting on the deck with a drink and watching the sun set while fantails, parakeets, kingfishers, wood pigeon and tui dart around in the many well-established trees.
