A multi-million-dollar property linked to well-known Kiwi horse breeder Bill Gleeson has been listed as a mortgagee sale.
It is one of a handful of high-profile lifestyle properties up for grabs on OneRoof.
Wellfield Lodge first hit the market in November last year but in late May the listing agents, Mark and Jack Monckton, announced the property would be auctioned on July 5.
Their updated listing stated it was “now a required sale” by the mortgagee.
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On the block will be:
- The 26ha Wellfield Lodge, at 311 Kairanga Bunnythorpe Road, which comes with an impressive five-bedroom home, swimming pool, and a separate flat;
- Two lifestyle blocks at 168 and 150 Setters Line, one 1ha in size, the other 1.8ha in size; and
- A 39ha holding at 126 Setters Line.
The agents said 311 Kairanga Bunnythorpe Road and 126 Setters Line could be purchased separately at the auction, adding the $7.75 million RV for Wellfield Lodge was no longer relevant. “The council now has them amalgamated, so the RV doesn’t represent what’s there,” Mark Monckton said.
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Gleeson's breeding operation has produced a string of winners, but the agents said ownership was in trust and they could not disclose who the trustees were, nor any more details of why the mortgagee was selling the stud farm.
Wellfield Lodge was originally built and operated as a horse stud and has significant built-for-purpose equine facilities. The stud’s website lists some of its outstanding group 1 horses (Group 1 are the highlight events on the racing calendar) including stallions Alamosa, Road To Rock and Vespa, which have had progeny successes in New Zealand, Australia and Asia.
Wellfield Lodge has significant equine facilities, breeding some high-profile Group 1 horses. Photo / Supplied
When he first put the property on the market last year, Gleeson told New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association's Love Racing news site that most of the bloodstock would be dispersed and farm manager Peter Didham planned to go into training.
“We got to a stage in our life where we wanted to downsize a bit,” Gleeson said in the article.
OneRoof found three other impressive lifestyle and heritage properties currently for sale.
A unique Whanganui heritage home that was – briefly – the changing rooms for Prince Harry, is on the market.
The story goes that the royal nipped into the house, the former Whanganui Gentlemen’s Club, to change his clothes when he was in the city on a visit in 2015.
The grand Edwardian home at 136 Saint Hill Street, Whanganui, which started life in 1914, is renamed the Wanganui Club as it now accepts women members while the building is known as Heritage House. Less excitingly, the club also hosted Prime Minister Christopher Luxon when he was in town earlier this year.
Bayleys agent Amie Rowan, who is marketing the property with Jean Clark and Jess Butters for a tender closing July 17, said that after the current owners bought the building in 2010 it was extensively renovated back to its former glory in an eight-year project.
She said the historic gem has drawn interest from across New Zealand, as well as buyers from Singapore, Australia, Indonesia and China, reached through Bayleys’ relationship with international luxury agency Knight Frank.
Heritage House has a mixed commercial zoning and residential use authority so as well as the club and two offices on the ground floor, upstairs it has a private one-bedroom owner’s apartment plus two high-end apartments, a one-bedroom and a three-bedroom, which are listed on Airbnb.
Heritage House, on 136 Saint Hill Street, Whanganui, is home to the Wanganui Club - once used by Prince Harry on a visit in 2015. Photo / Supplied
The renovation of Whanganui's Heritage House included restoring the dramatic staircase and lobby. Photo / Supplied
As well as the club premises, the building has a grand ballroom and lobby, and a garden summer house which is also hired out for events.
The agents said that as well as restoring the native woodwork, including the magnificent kauri staircase, the owners have refinished floors and upgraded plumbing and wiring.
In Ōtaki, on the Kāpiti Coast, a 4ha New Zealand Gardens Trust garden, Anam Cara, has just closed a tender for sale. The agent for the gardens at 150 Rangiuru Road, Sharalyn Fraser, of Sharalyn Fraser Agency, told OneRoof negotiations were underway.
The property, which includes a five-bedroom, 440sqm house, has a 2023 RV of $2.45m.
The owners, Tim and Teresa Grigg, told OneRoof its romantic gardens have attracted wedding couples from around the world.
Anam Cara comes with a botanically-themed reception venue, a full commercial kitchen, luxury accommodation for up to 18 people in a self-contained studio and grooms’ quarters, and parking for 50 cars and has earned a Qualmark silver rating.
The Griggs, who bought the property in 2017, told OneRoof they fell in love with Anam Cara gardens at first sight.
"The gardens were breathtaking, and we wanted a rural lifestyle experience for our young family. The villa was beautifully built,” Teresa said.
Aman Cara, a national garden and wedding venue at 150 Rangiuru Road, Ōtaki on the Kāpiti Coast, is on the market. Photo / Supplied
Flowerpot Bay Lodge on Pitt Island, in the Chatham Islands, has been looking for new owners for over two years. Photo / Supplied
“There’s a beautiful, almost spiritual feel to the gardens that photos don’t do justice to. It’s very tranquil and encourages people to connect with nature.”
And in the most remote corner of New Zealand, a lifestyle property and lodge has been proving one of the hardest to sell.
Since February 2022, the Flowerpot Bay Lodge on Pitt Island, in the Chatham Islands group, has been looking for a special sort of owner who can cope with remote island living.
The 2.28ha property on the island of just 45 residents was listed by Harcourts agent Stephen Gregory-Hunt, a sixth-generation Chatham Islander, along with David Schmidt and Paul Sanford, for sale by negotiation.
The lodge belongs to Gregory-Hunt’s cousin Bernadette and her husband Brent Mallinson, who decided that it was time to retire. The couple had been running the sole accommodation venue on the island, which offers six bedrooms and six bathrooms, since 2013.
The off-grid property, a two-hour flight from the mainland, comes with spring and rainwater supplies, solar power and a backup generator.
Speaking with OneRoof in 2022, Gregory-Hunt said: “You can go to a beach where nobody else has set foot for a couple of years.”
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