Colonial flavour

Pat and Kate McCammon moved to Tauranga from Auckland a year ago — but they have to move back — so are reluctantly putting the home they fell for on the market.

The couple, who both work in global business, wanted to work remotely and decided on a lifestyle change as well.

However, Pat has found he often needs to be in Auckland so they have made the tough decision to sell their Canadian colonial-style dream home and return to the Supercity.

“It’s something we don’t really want to do — if I didn’t have to travel, it wouldn’t be on the market.”

After looking in the surrounding area and seeing a couple of homes they liked in Papamoa, they drove down Freeburn Rd and it was pretty obvious, Pat says, that the grand house with the homestead feel was the one for them.

“We were looking for a particular sort of style and particular type of home,” he says.

“It was a clear choice in terms of the lifestyle, the size, the quality of the home. It was everything about it.

“Rather than just a luxury-style executive home it had so much more character. We fell in love with the house.

“We wanted something with character, something majestic, but we didn’t want 10 bedrooms.

“So it’s a four-bedroom, four-bathroom home. It’s big but it doesn’t feel that big, if you know what I mean. It doesn’t feel like you have wasted rooms.”

Pat says people who visit can’t believe the property is not rural.

“The wonderful thing about the location is that it’s two minutes away from shops and it’s still very, very close to downtown Tauranga and also very close to the Mount.”

At more than 8000sq m, it’s a large property but about a third is native bush, which brings in the birds, so