Capture your dreams on Corbett
Afive-acre lifestyle property near the intersection of Corbett Rd and Manutahi Rd offered Jim and his late wife Diane everything they wanted in a transition from their dairy farming years near Stratford.
The move north 18 years ago to the lushly grassed Lepperton land at 484 Corbett Rd was pleasing. The property was well-established in its rural setting, but was just minutes from shopping and restaurant choices in Bell Block or New Plymouth.
Five flat acres (about 2.12 hectares) was enough land to let them carry on farming activities, just on a smaller scale. “There are seven paddocks, not too big and easy to look after,” says Jim.
“Five have fixed troughs; and there’s a portable trough for the other two.
“I graze seven beefies each year to sell, and then get another seven weaners to do it again. I usually cut haylage each year, and a small amount of hay.”
The house was just 10 years old when they bought the property. It gave them a spacious and comfortable home to enjoy their retirement from a busy farm, while still appreciating pleasing rural surroundings. “We liked the way it was set up ... with the house and a big storage shed nearby,” Jim recalls.
With four bedrooms, spacious living areas, an office, a games room, and a large landscaped outdoor space that included an in-ground swimming pool, there was plenty of room for family and friends to visit or stay.
Space to stay subsequently became an even more serious feature of this property.
That storage shed adjacent to the house was the focus for a change within a couple of years that brought regular visitors to their property from all over New Zealand, and occasionally from overseas. The couple converted half of the shed into bed-and-breakfast accommodation - a large studio unit and a one-bedroom self-contained unit, with shared laundry services. The units have a lockable connecting door that allows for family groups to stay.
Jim and Diane called this development Puriri Place for the large puriri tree at the corner of the intersection. The units proved popular and a stream of guests became part of life here, adding comments such as this to their visitors’ book: “Everything was beautiful, with everything and more for a relaxing and comfortable stay. We loved being in the country, yet so close to the city.”
The other half of that big shed is a versatile storage space at about 12m long and about 3m wide - easily capable of accommodating a motorhome, a caravan, or a boat.
When Diane died seven years ago, Jim re-assessed the BNB business and decided on a change of accommodation to long-term rentals. That has been a successful change with tenants enjoying stays as long as four years. New owners will be able to choose either accommodation style if they want to continue taking in guests.
Those new owners should appreciate the classic charm they will find in the main house.
It starts with the drive that sweeps in from the road past established deciduous trees that are now budding out in fresh foliage. It’s an attractive approach that Diane enhanced with her love of gardening, choosing most of the plants that now dress the grounds around the house.
Jim made his improvement to the property by taking out the Leighton Green conifer hedging around the boundary and replanting in Japanese cedars.
A front door and opening sidelight have feature leadlight panels that welcome visitors to the house, opening up the tiled foyer that then leads into the generous open living space of kitchen, dining and family areas. Interior double doors open the family area to the large adjacent formal lounge.
A spacious office is also acccessed from the living area, while the large games room and its threequarter-sized pool table is a few steps further on off the hallway.
All the rooms are light and airy with well-proportioned windows and
doors to let in the sun’s light and warmth. Colonial bars along the top of the glass add a touch of character.
Kitchens are regarded as the heart of a home, and this kitchen reinforces that reputation. It’s a spacious design with storage and display cabinets in finely finished rimu that still looks great fter almost three decades. Jim and Diane updated it with benchtops in a pale engineered stone that complements the warmth of the rimu.
A feature of the kitchen is the original spashback in the recess housing the ceramic hob - a glass sheet with a photographic image of a pair of tui. The image seems appropriate when Jim recalls counting 14 tui in the branches of a kowhai outside.
Bird life is bountiful around here - Jim shows a photo he took just recently of two pairs of quail out on the front lawn and says a quail has even come up on to the decking outside the living area that faces the landscaped courtyard and fenced swimming pool.
That decking continues around the front of the bedroom wing with a verandah roof protecting the doors opening out from each of the four bedrooms.
The warmth of the rimu in the kitchen is repeated in the ensuite to the huge master bedroom and in the family bathroom along the back of the bedroom wing. The ensuite features a shower over a corner spa bath, while the main bathroom has a bath framed in rimu and raised on a rimu plinth.
Half-wall tongue and groove rimu panelling is a feature of both bathrooms.
Jim and Diane refined the home’s outdoor living space, replacing pavers around the pool with easy-care concrete, and adding a built-in barbecue facility and an outdoor fireplace with firewood storage to the courtyard area. Large bird-of-paradise plantings are a striking element of the landscaping and are now in colourful flower.
Birds of a feathered variety are Jim’s special interest and he developed the large aviary facilities attached to sheds behind the house. More feathered activity is found in a good-sized chicken coop nearby - and the potential for eggs to help feed a family. Orchard choices of apple, plum, mandarin and lemon add another element of productivity to the property.
Bayleys consultants Brendan Cowley and Leo Baas are marketing the property and say it is more than a home. “It’s a sanctuary. With its blend of natural beauty, functional design, and income potential, this property offers a lifestyle of unparalleled richness.”