A HOME WITH HISTORY

Memories of this North Shore home are entwined with the neighbourhood park that it sits alongside, writes ERIN REILLY

For Liz Goodwin, 126 Aberdeen Rd is much more than a house. It’s part of her life story.

“My family was living in Fiji where my dad was an air traffic controller,” she says. “When we returned to New Zealand, Mum and Dad wanted to buy a house. They couldn’t find exactly what they wanted so settled on a property further up Aberdeen Rd. Dad spent a whole summer clearing the land. One day he was walking along the edge of Centennial Park and noticed a house sitting quite a way back with a long garden running down towards the park. He thought he’d be cheeky so he walked up and knocked on the door.

The long and the short of it is that he asked the owners if they wanted to sell part of their property.

“Eventually they said yes, so he sold our original property back to the original owner and bought this one right on the edge of the park.”

That was back in

1963 when Liz was just 14. She and her younger brother grew up in the home, and her dad continued to live there until earlier this year.

Today, 126 Aberdeen Rd is on the market for the first time in almost 60 years.

The most distinguishing feature of this property is its relationship with the 70ha Centennial Park right next door. Barfoot and Thompson agent Nadja Court says it backs onto the park in such a way that there’s almost no distinction between the two.

“This property has a real connection with the park so you feel like it’s part of it,” she says. “There are very few sites like this available.

“It’s seriously ‘one of the last’.”

The home is filled with fond memories, like Liz’s brother building treehouses in the park (“kids still do that which is lovely”), her dad building furniture in the basement then a boat in the backyard which he sailed to Fiji and back, and planting a frangipani tree in honour of their life in Fiji, “which is now big and beautiful and blooms wonderfully during summer”.

Down the hill is the tennis club. “My mother and I used to play tennis there. It’s still very busy. You can hear all the kids after school being coached; it’s just wonderful.”

Much of Campbells Bay revolves around the park. Walking tracks criss-cross it, neighbours walk their dogs through it, and the bush society is actively growing meadows to encourage butterflies and insects.

While Liz doesn’t live at 126 Aberdeen Rd anymore, she lives right across the park and continues to be very involved with its kaitiaki (guardianship) through the bush society.

“Growing up in this house, I grew up in the park too,” she says. “I’d love it if the next owners could enjoy it the same way we did, and respect what’s going on in the park.

“The house has such a great relationship with the landscape so it would be nice to have someone come in and appreciate that.”

Sale: Tender closes August 26

Contact: Nadja Court, Barfoot and Thompson, 021 777 690