A Hawke’s Bay couple’s dream to turn farmland into a dream lifestyle plot that made its way into a national home and garden magazine is ready for some new green-fingered owners to take over.
The Arts and Craft home with impressive English country-style grounds at 1058 Nicholls Road, in Flemington, Central Hawke’s Bay, is for sale by negotiation with New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty.
Angela and Bruce Ayling spotted potential in the Flemington property in the middle of Central Hawke’s Bay farmland almost 20 years ago and set about creating a garden so magical it was featured in House and Garden in 2018.
Angela Ayling said they fell in love with the property at first sight and the keen gardeners immediately set to work creating an impressive garden with some formal aspects to complement the 1950s English cottage-style home.
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It initially started as a weekend project with the couple commuting from Napier to the property at the weekends for the first 15 years to fulfil their dream.
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Ayling said it was an “obsessive passion” of theirs to create and build gardens and the Nicholls Road property provided the perfect canvas for them to develop the formal garden at the front of the house.
She drew her inspiration from books by English garden writers and other impressive gardens around New Zealand.
They created a formal garden with meticulously trimmed hedging to create straight lines towards the home, ponds, a parterre knot garden and two rows of pyramid trees. There are also informal plantings that can be seen on different walks around the garden.
The mature trees, which are more than 100 years old, provided the perfect backdrop for their passion project.
“We just go from one area to the other trying to tweak.”
Ayling told OneRoof a garden is never finished and there was plenty of potential for the new owner to develop it further.
The Arts and Crafts house has been sympathetically renovated in keeping with the 1950s era. Photo / Supplied
The Chapman-Taylor-inspired Arts and Crafts home on 1058 Nicholls Road had initially been part of the larger farm and had been carved off onto its own 20.23-hectare site.
The house also needed work when they bought it and under their ownership has been extensively renovated to include a new kitchen and bathrooms sympathetic to its era.
“It’s just such a beautiful place and it was a big decision,” Ayling said, of putting it up for sale, adding that they were now 20 years older than when they first started it.
Listing agent Vaughan Wilson said what the couple had created was very impressive and the grounds had a giant park-like feel about them.
The well-thought-out gardens also complemented the unique four-bedroom, two-bathroom character home, he said.
“They’ve updated it quite sympathetically, modernised it, it’s extremely well presented – there’s nothing else to do, just move in and enjoy.
A new kitchen and new bathrooms have been installed in the home. Photo / Supplied
“For me, it’s something you’d expect in the Hollywood days when the film industry was big, and they were having big soirees on the lawns and things like that. It’s definitely got that feeling about it as you drive up to the round driveway.
Wilson said the property offered immense potential to be run as a home and income.
The home’s layout meant guests could easily be accommodated on the top floor where there were two bedrooms, a living area and a bathroom.
The lawned tennis court would be ideal for social games or a marquee for weddings, functions or even farm stays, he said.
The neighbouring farm currently leases some of the land back for grazing, which gave the Aylings time to focus on their gardens.
Wilson said the property, which has an RV of $1.59 million, had attracted quite a bit of attention so far and could suit out-of-towners looking for a home-and-income situation or people retiring off a large farm.
The formal garden includes rows of pyramid trees and a knotted garden. Photo / Supplied
It comes as several high-end properties in the Hawke’s Bay have hit the market in the last month, which Wilson said was not uncommon for spring because people generally wanted to sell their properties when their homes and gardens were looking their best.
One of the region’s most expensive homes, which has an RV of $10.2m, was listed with Bayleys earlier this month. The six-bedroom resort-style home at 44 Duart Road, in Havelock North, was inspired by the elite resorts of California’s Palm Springs.
The home was designed by architects Sumich Chaplin – the architecture firm favoured by New Zealand’s super-wealthy – interior design by Jen Pack and landscaping by the renowned Suzanne Turley.
Bayleys listing agent Gretchen Paape earlier told OneRoof that it was undoubtedly one of the most impressive properties in Hawke’s Bay.
Meanwhile, one of the largest properties in the private, gated Hill Country Conservation Estate, known by locals as Black Barn and which also backs onto the popular Black Barn Vineyard, is also on the market.
The six-bedroom, seven-bathroom property at 137 Black Barn Road, in Havelock North, is constructed from reinforced concrete block walls, concrete flooring, steel, and plaster and was inspired from Provencal in France.
360 Realty listing agent Linda Watson described the property, which has an RV of $4.35m, as a “grand chateau”.
“It’s not a modern home. It’s completely different with vistas to die for. It’s just really gorgeous.
The French-inspired mansion on Black Barn Road, in Havelock North, is one of the biggest in the gated community. Photo / Supplied
"It’s very large and very palacious with outstanding views. It faces out to Mt Ruapehu, it’s got views right across the Heretaunga Plains.”
Watson said there were more high-end properties on the market, but believed it was coincidental with everyone having their own reasons for selling.
People who moved to the region usually did so for lifestyle reasons, she added, and the weather, vineyards and schooling were all big drawcards.
Oliver Road salesperson Nic Goodman said there were only seven properties for sale over $3m in the whole of the Hawke’s Bay, but knew of several sellers getting their homes ready to hit the market early next year.
Goodman said there were still plenty of high-value buyers both local and out-of-towners from Auckland and Wellington still waiting for their dream property to come on the market.
She recently sold properties on both Lane Road and Durham Road, in Havelock North, to local buyers who in some cases have been waiting years for the right property.
Their shopping lists usually included a gorgeous home with a pool, tennis court and elevated views, she said. “Often, it’s lifestyle. These higher value buyers, they like the privacy."
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