QUICK LOOK
The artfully inscribed sign at the gates to
333 Upland Rd is a pointer to the special lifestyle that John and Rosemary Lucas have created here, at Tarurutangi, just a few minutes from Bell Block and New Plymouth.
The words spell it out: Villa Heights Bed & Breakfast.
And that’s just what you find when you drive through the wrought iron gates, past the lush garden borders, and arrive at the top of the concrete driveway.
It’s a beautifully presented villa, with a classic rolled-iron veranda, at the end of a formal, buxus-lined, paved path. And sitting on this rural ridge line gives it awesome views across the pastoral landscape to a sea horizon.
Villa Heights is the perfect name for John and Rosemary’s home. But you have to come up the driveway to realise that, as the tall Japanese cedar hedge along the road frontage gives the property almost complete privacy.
The villa sits at the centre of a garden retreat; quite appropriate considering John’s eight-year role as chairman of the Taranaki Garden Trust, which organises the annual Taranaki Fringe Garden Festival.
When the couple reveal that this piece of land was originally bare pasture, and they moved the then-dilapidated villa on to it, you can appreciate even more what they have achieved here.
The 1.062-hectare site was part of the farm they had owned and worked since
1988, but subdivided off to create a retirement home. ‘‘It was a complete blank canvas,’’ John recalls.
They had mixed thoughts on what sort of home they wanted for the site. ‘‘We had decided to build a new home,’’ Rosemary says, ‘‘but we both liked old homes.’’
They committed to character and found this homestead villa, built about 1900, on a farm near Opunake. The home was surplus after two farms merged and its condition had seriously deteriorated.
Their commitment to restoring the old villa prompted plenty of discussion in the area, and talk of a different sort of commitment. ‘‘Our neighbours threatened to put
WHERE: 333 Upland Rd, Tarurutangi, New Plymouth.
HOW BIG: 1.062ha in land; about
230sqm in home.
HOW MUCH: $859,000.
WHAT YOU GET: Space and comfort in an early 19th Century character villa in an appealingly landscaped garden setting with expansive views. Beautifully restored and renovated to a high standard, with carefully chosen contemporary conveniences to complement the style of the home’s era. Continue the successful bed-andbreakfast business, or enjoy a beautiful family home.
MARKETED BY: Angela Maindonald at Robert Angus Real Estate – 021 110 8313.
ONLINE: open2view.com – ref 463889.
SEE IT: Open home on Sunday, October
27, from 12 noon till 12.45pm.
us in the looney bin,’’ John says, with a laugh. ‘‘But once we had changed our minds, we never regretted it.’’
The substantial villa, a quite grand home of its era, had to be cut into sections to be trucked to the Upland Rd site. It was put back together in a different way that allowed better use of the floor plan, and then the renovation began. ‘‘It was a huge mission to bring it up to what it is today,’’ John admits.
New Plymouth architectural designer Owen McCluggage helped plan the restoration. John recalls he worked out the best placement for the reassembled villa by setting out more than 50 electric fence standards across the site to show where the various rooms would be.
A bulldozer then shaped the building platform, but some contour was retained on the site so the future garden could have different levels. That’s appreciated today in the stepped lawns and the visual variety that provides.
The renovation took the couple and their builder more than two years to complete. It included new piles, plumbing, electrical wiring, and roofing. Old black shellac-covered surfaces were stripped back to clean wood and the battened rimu timber ceilings of some rooms were carefully dismantled so white paint could be removed and the boards put back up with their natural warm grain highlighted.
The work transformed the villa and showcased the fine detail of the original construction and finishes.
Beautiful rimu features were brought back to life: the arch-topped doors in the hallway, the stunning arch and bay window in the dining room, the formal fireplace in the same room that was built with dowels rather than nails, the tongueand-groove panelled lower walls in most rooms, and those stunning polished, battened timber ceilings in hallway, front bedrooms, dining and lounge.
The central family or guest lounge was