Resort-like setting close to town
Asemi-tropical resort retreat in North Taranaki. That’s the feeling you get sitting out in our vendor’s sunny patio space at their home at 412A Corbett Rd.
This home is just minutes from Bell Block and New Plymouth shopping, and the airport, but seems like a world away. Tall palms move gently in a breeze, birds chirp cheerfully in the garden surroundings, and there’s a view over the farmland, out to the bluesea horizon, and up the coast to Mokau.
Creating this environment and home has been the penultimate effort in our vendors’ downsizing dream after selling their South Taranaki farm. It’s been an extended journey; one which has seen a renovation and several subdivisions, before the shaping of this striking new home in lush gardens about 13 years ago.
They bought the property originally as a 30-hectare run-off with a home back off the road, sheltered within a setting of gardens and bush. They enjoyed this for some time, renovating the home, and selling off the land in several stages to eventually leave themselves about 2.5ha.
They considered building a new home in New Plymouth, but realised they had a beautiful building site on their remaining property, and could enjoy a future here. That’s what they have done.
Although planned for themselves in their retirement years, the couple envisaged this as a home that family and friends could also enjoy.
They admit this is an entertainer’s house, having hosted yearly carol nights here, family birthdays and reunions, and many rugby evenings. With plenty of separation from any neighbouring property, generating a bit of sound is not a problem.
The vendors took their own concept plan to Elliott Architects in New Plymouth, who refined the concept and detailed the 300sqm home that rose up here. The plan was sparked by a show kitchen that they saw at Prestige Kitchens, and the home took shape around that.
This property is easy to find ... just on 4km up Corbett Rd from the main road at Bell Block, into an area that’s increasingly focused on quality lifestyle properties. “It’s quite a community around here now,” they say, noting the appeal of proximity to the city and to Lepperton School.
A wide right-of-way leads into the various lifestyle properties that have been developed here following the subdivision of the original land. The drive into this property is 100m or so along the right-of-way, giving them a pleasing seclusion from Corbett Rd traffic.
At the start of their driveway is a 144sqm four-bay shed from where their son runs his light-engineering business, and which could be an income opportunity for new owners of the property, as he is happy to continue leasing the shed facilities.
There’s a pleasing approach to the house, with the driveway winding on through a portion of the wellestablished bush - a shady green tunnel that emerges to a wide concrete turning and parking space in front of the house and its integrated double garage.
The house is a contemporary design of Linea-board and Coloursteelclad
modular elements under a raking monopitch roof - the crisp effect softened by the lush plantings that they have created around the home.
A designer welcome marks the entry to the home - a polished stainless-steel frame covered with glass shelters the bold-red double doors that can open wide to the foyer.
The layout of the home is pleasingly uncomplicated - living areas in the centre, master bedroom suite to the right, and the two large guest bedrooms to the left through a handy sitting area they call their ‘snug’. All three bedrooms have the convenience of their own ensuite bathrooms, and there’s also a powder room for visitors.
The master bedroom is accessed through its walk-through wardrobe and ensuite area. The owners say it’s nice to wake up in the morning to the bird song and sun, and admire the views through sliding doors to the sea horizon. Just outside, there is a spa pool set into the gardens for a relaxing soak in the evening.
Expansive scenic views make their main impact in the living areas. They
start at right under the sensor-controlled louvres of the huge covered patio, (capable of seating 30 for Christmas dinner), step into the light-filled kitchen-dining area, continue in the more intimate dark-coloured lounge next door which houses the projector and screen for those all-important rugby tests, and finish in the sunny space of the ply-floored conservatory next to that.
The views are eyecatching in the kitchen-dining space, where the rising angle of the roofline allows for a wall of glass that is more than 4.5m high - the lower half filled with stacker sliding doors that open out to the concrete terrace that stretches across the sunny face of the home.
The Rumford-design outdoor fireplace on the left-hand end of the terrace, built by the vendors, is a real attraction as dusk falls and the flames flare into life. Most of the outdoor living happens on the tiled patio, though, under those louvres. The outdoor kitchen bench and sink at the back of the patio is a pointer to that.
The kitchen inside, of course, is based on the showroom presentation that started this project - an island-bench design with dark cabinets and a pale, engineered-stone top. A double wall oven is complemented by an induction hob on the stainless-steel rear bench, and doors and drawers are soft-close. A side pantry complements the layout.
There’s a special feature in the cabinet that finishes the end of the island bench. The press of a button on a remote control prompts a small television to rise from the top of the cabinet - handy, the owners say, for viewing recipes as well as TV programmes.
Year-round comfort and ambiance is created with a combination of gas-fired underfloor heating and an efficient woodburner for the cooler months, and effective ventilation with a flexible mix of doors and windows moderating the warmth during the summer.
There’s more to this property than this beautiful home, however.
Tucked away in a sheltered clearing in the bush is a studio/cabin that has been a popular rental option, especially during the summer months and Womad. Recently one Auckland guest spent 12 night there, enjoying the privacy, and the freedom from a technological world.
On the far side of the property, they point out the five paddocks, electrically fenced with a trough in each, where a group of beefies are contentedly grazing. Another option for these paddocks is for the vendors to lease them back from new owners.
There are easy-care gardens around the house, connecting to peaceful paths through the bush, and landscaping features that offer special moments of enjoyment - a garden seat placed into a small grove of olive trees, and posts in a nearby shady patch of trees that support a pair of children’s swings and three relaxing hammocks.
The vendors say they are not gardeners, therefore the grounds have to be easy care.
The property is pleasingly productive, with a choice of fruits to complement the stock, chickens, and vegetable gardens. Fruits include avocado, lemon, lime, mandarin, blueberry, plum, passionfruit, and apple. There is also a shade house, and a large garden shed/workshop space where they also store their e-bikes.