The country estate owned by the actor who played Óin, one of the dwarves in Sir Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy, is on the market for sale.
And no, it’s not a hobbit hole.
“Dwarves are not hobbits,” declared actor John Callen, who, with his wife Judy, is selling their five-bedroom house set on over four hectares at 278A Forest Hill Road, Waiatarua.
Callen, who is also a director, and writer in theatre and television and the smooth voice for National Geographic, Discovery and Animal Planet documentaries, said that his home in West Auckland was where he found his magic.
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“No matter what the weather is, I stand at the kitchen window and just stare at the view. It’s magic,” he said.
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He will be forever known as Óin, who with his brother Glóin accompanies hobbit Bilbo Baggins. Óin is the warrior/apothecary and the fire-starter in the band and his nephew, Glóin’s son, Gimli goes on to become part of the famous Fellowship of the Ring.
Most of Callen’s hobbit memorabilia has been packed away while the house is being shown to buyers, but people will be able to glimpse one key prop.
Callen in full dwarf garb. He played the dwarf Óin and had some memorable scenes involving his fighting staff in Sir Peter's prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy. photo / Warner
The villa on over four hectares has a main house, self-contained guest cottage and sweeping gardens. Photo / Supplied
“At the end of filming, we all got given a gift of our weapons. I got my fighting staff, and that’s on display.
“People did say you could use it to dig your own hobbit hole – but that’s a step too far,” he laughed.
The bay-fronted villa, 10 minutes from Henderson, is being sold by auction on December 10 by Harcourts agents Nicky and Mark Malloy.
Callen claimed that it was his wife Judy (“a country girl” brought up in Hawke’s Bay), who persuaded this south east London boy to live in the country many years ago.
“I said ‘good grief, no’. But we lived in Golden Bay [Nelson] our son was born there, I had three other children and we learned how to ride a motorbike, horses.”
The family added a bright red Belling cooker to the country kitchen. Photo / Supplied
After a stint back in Auckland, when Callen was flying back and forth to Wellington filming The Hobbit, the family longed to be in the country again. They nearly missed out on the Forest Hill Road property, just 23km from the city centre, but after an earlier sale fell over, the couple snapped it up at the end of 2015 for $1.9 million.
“This property, the countryside, it took our breath away. We’ve got room for beehives, Indian runner ducks and chickens,” Callen said. The animals are named, not farmed, he insisted.
The country grounds and four-bedroom house quickly drew back both the couple’s grown children and Judy’s artist sister Diane and her husband from France. At one point, Callen said, there were nine people, including their toddler grandson, living together.
The villa retains many of its original features. Photo / Supplied
The house and gardens are surrounded by native bush of the Waitakere Ranges. Photo / Supplied
The expansive house stretched to fit, with the old-school country-kitchen the heart of the home (the couple added a bright red Belling cooker for true country style). An area beside the house was developed into a legal, second one-bedroom home with an art studio/workshop and a second art studio cottage for Diane and her husband.
The two sisters worked on transforming the bare grass paddock into a garden of perennials planted in sweeping curves: their proportions were specified by Callen to fit the turning circles of his ride-on mower. Judy – whose day job is commissioning shows at TVNZ – got on the tools to build a pergola, garden shed and more “with me putting my sixpence in”, said Callen.
There’s a pond, fed by a freshwater spring, an outdoor bathtub, a large vegetable patch, an outdoor fireplace that could be converted to a pizza oven and expanded decks that can host a band and crowd of 50 for parties.
Inside the couple decorated and installed sky lights. The villa has the sash windows, wood floors and high ceilings of the Victorian original, but enhanced by heating and solar power.
“It was a wonderful place to find and we’ve developed it to be even more wonderful. Nobody knows it’s there, it’s so private.”
Callen said that nearly 3.5ha of the property is in native bush, with gated access to the Waitakere Ranges reserve.
The couple are selling as their children have moved on.
“Judy and I are just rattling around. We love travelling, we will do a bit more of that.”
Harcourts agent Nicky Malloy said that such luxury executive homes were rare in this part of West Auckland, so close to the city.
“They’re few and far between. It offers tranquility and a lifestyle, but it’s only 24km to the city.”
“There’s nothing like this for sale, a character home of this stature,” added Mark Malloy.
The property has a CV of $2.15m, but the agents said it was too soon to comment on what price the property might fetch at auction.
- 278A Forest Hill Road, Waiatarua, will be sold by auction on December 10.
