Up a driveway off the Dome Valley north of Auckland a stone manor house has been built that’s modelled on something you would find in the Cotswolds in the United Kingdom.
The house, with six bedrooms and six bathrooms, sits on 25 hectares and is very different to most of the farmhouses around Wellsford, but the really unusual part of the property is the airstrip which comes with it.
1232A State Highway One is very private and a bit of a surprise when you get there, said agent John Barnett, a country, lifestyle and farms specialist with Bayleys, who is marketing the property for sale.
“It looks like you’ve just turned up to Auckland International Airport.”
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Known as Springhill Airfield, the sealed runway is 870 metres long and next door to that is a grass airstrip which is 717 metres long.
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There are two hangars with an option for a third, and there’s a pilot clubhouse, plus a resource consent with further options.
“As the owner would say, ‘it’s great because you can go for a fly, bring the plane back in, put it back in the hangar, walk up to the house’.”
The aerodrome was the brainchild and passion of businessman Richard Izard, a plane and car enthusiast who had a saw business in Wellsford.
Izard bought a farm and built the aerodrome. He was friends with the current owner, who happens to be an ex-British Airways pilot, and it was the pilot who built the house.
“My vendor is a former senior British Airways captain so he has spent a lifetime flying for British Airways and then emigrated to New Zealand with his wife,” Barnett explained.
“They were friends with Mr Izard and he would visit them in England and when they came out here they visited him.
“Apparently, every time he came Richard would always go ‘where are you going to build your house on my property?’ and one day he (the owner) just went ‘over there’.
The six-bedroom stone manor is modelled on the look of English country mansions. Photo / Supplied
“Richard organised the title to be created around that spot and the owner bought the land off Richard Izard and built the house based on one they had in the Cotswolds in England.”
The airstrip was not part of the purchase at the time but a few years ago Izard sold the farm and the current owners approached the new owners who agreed to sell them the airfield so about five years ago they combined it into their titles.
“They owned originally 6.5 hectares then they acquired the balance to make it up to 25 hectares.”
The couple is downsizing, however, and the house and airstrip are on the market.
Barnett has heard the airstrip is good enough to be on a list Air New Zealand has for emergency landings.
“The story goes you could land one of the regional planes on it. It wouldn’t be long enough to ever take off but it’s big enough to be able to land in a hurry.”
“I understand it’s long enough for a light jet but not for a Lear jet. The main users of the airstrip have been and currently are prop (propeller) configurations.”
The property also boasts a functioning aerodrome. Photo / Supplied
The house is pretty good, too, he said, with open-plan living, kitchen and guest bathroom downstairs, and five bedrooms upstairs, all with ensuites.
There is also a self-contained studio apartment above the four-car garage so the house is well set up for family and visitors.
Outside is a heated swimming pool, and there is a three-bay barn. That has solar on it which is fully integrated to the house which is concrete slab with natural stone block and is cool in summer and warm in winter.
Barnett could not find a house design like it anywhere else in the country, saying it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for someone who wanted a beautiful home and a well set up airfield.
The clubhouse has held functions when other flyers turn up and the airfield is used by pilots flying people to prestigious golf courses in the area, such as Tara Iti and Te Arai Links.
The listing agent says the home is a standout in the Wellsford market. Photo / Supplied
“When there’s not enough parking for the helicopters there they have dropped off their clients and then flown to Springhill Airfield, parked up, gone into the pilot clubhouse where they can have a coffee, sit down, relax, and wait for the call to go and pick up their clients again from over near Mangawhai.”
The property has been attracting a lot of interest, including from pilots but also people interested in the extensive resource consent as there is approval for a five-lot subdivision.
The consent gives unlimited use for private use and there is also resource consent for commercial flights averaging five a day over the month plus there is consent for aircraft assembly with up to three engineers working on site, and it allows for aircraft storage as well.
The consent opens the door for commercial uses, tourism and adventure for the eventual buyer, Barnett said.
He would not be drawn on price other than to say the property, for sale by tender, is likely to sell well north of its 2021 rateable value of $3.225 million.
- 1232A State Highway One, Wellsford, Auckland, is for sale by way of tender, closing March 1
