QUICK LOOK

Puritawa Estate’s castle among the trees is an absolute eye-opener.

There’s a fairy-tale aspect to this one-ofa-kind residence at 277 Wortley Rd, near Lepperton. That’s emphasised by the name its owners have given to the room atop the home’s five-storey, octagonal tower feature: the Rapunzel Room.

This quirky space is reached via a cleverly crafted staircase and trapdoor from the room below. It looks out through two narrow dormer windows, over the residence’s semi-circular front lawn, and across the textured rural landscape beyond to a sea horizon.

It’s no wonder the couple decided to buy this property almost 30 years ago and create their own home here, drawing on their European heritage to give it its unique style.

They found the property in 1990 after moving up from Christchurch: 10 acres (4ha) of lush pasture, complemented by 11 acres (4.4ha) of native bush. ‘‘We loved the bush; it was virgin, it had never been cut,’’ she recalls.

‘‘The bush is phenomenal,’’ he adds. ‘‘Eleven acres of native bush; where do you find that now? You have to cherish it and look after it.’’

The couple have treasured the bush, refraining from cutting it themselves, and recovering fallen trees and branches to give them new life as elements of their home and furniture. And they’ve kept a light presence on the rest of the land, just rearing a few calves each year.

Their commitment to the integrity of this property includes filling in a straight drain and directing the water back into a restored original stream feature.

A small cottage and the run-down original homestead provided accommodation while our owner set about building their home himself.

‘‘He started building as soon as the permits came through,’’ his wife says. ‘‘We were younger then, and enthusiastic. My husband has multiple professions but he had been building our houses before, so he knew what he was doing.’’

The original homestead is gone now, although some of its panelled doors ended up in the new house. The cottage was

WHERE: 277 Wortley Rd, Lepperton, North Taranaki.

HOW BIG: About 8.47 hectares (approximately 21 acres); about 1200sqm in home and garages, plus a separate self-contained cottage as a rental.

HOW MUCH: To be set by tender, closing at 4pm on December 16, 2019.

WHAT YOU GET: Totally unique, grand and gracious residence handcrafted in Victorian style, and providing huge accommodation and living space. Lifestyle pasture property looks out over the rural landscape to a sea horizon and includes 4.45ha (about 11 acres) of virgin native bush behind the house and a self-contained cottage that offers a rental income.

MARKETED BY: Val Neil and Mike Powell at Harcourts – 06 759 9160 or Val on 021 954 220, Mike on 027 476 9355.

ONLINE: taranakiharcourts.co.nz – ref NP7350; open2view.com – ref 466964.

SEE IT: By appointment. shifted to the far side of the property and substantially rebuilt as a two-storey rental residence.

Wanganui architects McGowan and Casey worked with the couple to create the main home’s unique plan.

‘‘I did not want to build a standard house, I wanted something different. I wanted to challenge myself,’’ the owner says.

So the eventual design comprised the main two-storey, Victorian-style residence with a striking three-storey, octagonal, pointed-roof tower structure at the front corner, complemented by a stack of two octagonal decks at the opposite corner styled like a smaller tower. It’s also located up among the native trees, instead of down at the edge of the pasture as suggested by the architect.

The builder-owner focused on quality materials, choosing H3-treated timber for all the framing and rafters, rather than the lesser treatment levels of conventional homes.

The roof areas are layered – bituminous tiles over 15mm H3-treated tongue-andgroove plywood – and the main cladding is

200mm weatherboard, with roman-red brick used around the ground-floor entrance for variety.

He chose to fix the weather boards in both vertical and horizontal styles. ‘‘I didn’t want to do the same thing all the way,’’ he explains.

Exterior joinery is all aluminiumframed, with colonial bars added for a character effect. The detailing all works to create a home that’s just 25 or so years old, but looks like it was built in the early

1900s.

That’s what he began building . . . but it didn’t stop there. As he progressed through the build over the next few years, where there was potential to create a room out of available space, he did.

That’s produced a huge home of about

1200sqm with multiple, flexible options for storage or sleeping quarters on each of the upper levels. It’s a credit to his vision for a unique home and his attention to detail.

It also embraces five storeys now, starting with a basement billiard room beneath the ground-floor living areas, rising through the first-floor bedroom level, into the second- and third-floor rooms created in the high-pitched roof spaces, and finally into that fifth level of the Rapunzel Room atop the main tower.

With an interest in music in the couple’s background, the provision of a concert room above the garages, complete with a dedicated stage and an upstairs balcony viewing area, is not surprising. This room has been used for concerts, of course, and also for music schools, conferences, weddings and photo exhibitions.

This huge residence has been detailed with all the charm of yesteryear, with turned and trimmed wood in an amazing presentation throughout the house.

It celebrates wood, especially native timbers, and you find out about all its many-grained variations on a tour of the house with the owners. He lovingly handcrafted this entire house, so he knows every piece, every joint, every detail.

The varieties of native timbers used include tawa, kohekohe, puriri, pukatea, rewarewa, titoki and rimu.

Exotic timbers, such as macrocarpa, gum, and lawsoniana complement that native list. He points to the floors and steps between the levels, noting the different timbers that gleam with colour and grain. There’s even more detail in the finely