Oasis in the heart of Wadestown

AN EXCEPTIONALLY private and spacious house-andgarden oasis is for sale in the heart of Wadestown.

The spectacular property, at 5 Rankin St, combines 964 square metres of sublimely landscaped grounds with a four-bedroom landmark home and a separate one-bedroom guesthouse above a single garage.

Offers from $2.8 million are invited for the 220sqm Edwardian villa, which Sarah and Richard Caughley bought in 1989.

They loved not only its 1904 character but also the potential to create a garden that complemented its grandeur.

Sarah, a landscape designer who founded the Wadestown House and Garden Walk, has developed an enchanting Victorian garden with flat lawn on the eastern side of the house and idyllic ItalianFrench courtyard garden with a fountain on the western side.

So complete has been the transformation that it’s featured in magazines, on television and in the new book, Flourish: New Zealand Women and Their Extraordinary Gardens.

She and Richard also have maximised their home’s indooroutdoor lifestyle with a 2007 kitchen extension that opens to the lawn and garden on one side and the courtyard on the other.

It combines premium appliances and a hideaway laundry with polished floorboards, tongue-andgroove walls with open shelving and a sliding ladder, double sinks and two Italian, pineapple-shape chandeliers made from handbeaten copper.

The eat-in kitchen is open-plan with the family room, which has a built-in desk and a fireplace that complements the ducted heating.

There’s also a working fireplace in the formal living room, which is to the left of the front door, has a parquet floor and adjoins the formal dining room.

Both rooms have bay windows and views of the Victorian garden.

Across the 2m-wide central hall are three of the double-bedrooms. Each opens to the courtyard and the large main bedroom suite includes a bay window and an ensuite.

The fourth bedroom is on the eastern side of the house, opens to the garden and has a tiled fireplace with floor-to-ceiling shelving on either side.

The bathroom has painted tongue-and-groove walls and ceiling, polished floorboards, and a stand-alone bath, shower cabinet and toilet.

There’s another bathroom in the charming guesthouse, which the Caughleys built in the same style as their home.

It has a large bedroom/sitting room and a window seat with lovely views.

‘‘This is the quintessential Wadestown home,’’ Caroline Collison, of Just Paterson Real Estate, says.

‘‘It’s in an amazingly secluded and serene setting given it’s just minutes from the city and offers everything a family could wish for in one of Wellington’s best suburbs.’’

The property has a rateable value of $1.5 million. 5 Rankin St, Wadestown

Caroline Collison, phone 027 566 1666

Viewing by appointment.