Castle Claremont goes up for sale
With its sweeping driveway, beautifully landscaped gardens and grand neoGothic style mansion, Castle Claremont is the closest thing Timaru has to a royal estate, and now it could be yours.
Current owner Rob Young purchased the magnificent Mount Horrible property in 2005 and spent the next few years lovingly restoring it to its former glory.
The property is currently used as a wedding venue, a bed and breakfast, conference facility and as Young’s private residence.
However, he has reluctantly decided to sell as he is looking to downsize and retire, New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty’s Tania McCrone said.
Set on 11 hectares of grounds in a picturesque parklike setting, Castle Claremont is fitted out with 10 bedrooms, five bathrooms, a formal dining room, a library/billiard room, reception facilities and even a chapel.
Castle Claremont was built in 1884 for early settler George Hampton Rhodes and his wife, Henrietta. In the past, it also operated as a Marist Brothers’ training centre and as a rehabilitation facility before being transformed back into the grand home it is today.
The property has been beautifully furnished to maximise its ambience and history and can be sold with its furnishings, including a sideboard dated circa 1860 and other antiques circa 1900.
‘‘Castle Claremont also offers fantastic business opportunities,’’ McCrone said. ‘‘It’s almost a walk-in, walk-out sale.’’
Young has been passionate in his care to restore the house without losing its charm.
‘‘I have enjoyed seeing it transformed, although it’s always a work in progress,’’ he told The Timaru Herald in 2013. ‘‘It is steeped in history.’’
The castle is for sale by deadline private treaty.