Amongst hectares of Te Awamutu farmland and rural sheds a rustic five level crenellated tower rises.
No, this is not a part of a Lord of the Rings film set.
No, this is not a 15th century castle on the hill guarded by knights.
It is a castle built by a family of seven 15 years ago and it is now on the market.
Start your property search
Howard Bright a bricklayer of 45 years with Waipa Bricklayers, and his wife Helen Bright, liked the look of the ruins of Corse Castle in Scotland and wanted to play around to recreate the look of the tumbledown fortress.
However, constructing actual ruins was too complex to get consents for, so they modified plans to build an English-inspired castle instead.
Waipa Bricklayers boss Howard Bright has put his heart and soul into the castle he started building in 2003. Photo / Supplied.
Everyone in the family, including the couple’s three teenage boysstill at home, was handling the tools, Helen says.
With the help of colleagues in the building trades, nine months fromlaying the first brick, the Bright’s architectural English dream came true.
“Every lunch time a different carload of kids from my son’s schoolwould come up to see the project as we were building it,” Helen says.
“I guess it was a bit like a playhouse, a bit of a novelty. But aftera few years of living there, you put all that aside and it just feels likehome.”
It took nine month to build a 337 sq m tower house with a roof garden. Photo / Supplied.
Once they moved into the five-bedroom castle, the energetic familykept going, adding a pool, extra summer house residence and even a mockcemetery of headstones in the landscaping.
“We had a few people refer to it as a bomb shelter because when wefirst started, it was this big block of building that seemed to be going up andup and up. But at the end it all came together fine.”
The couple has a passion for out of the ordinary architecture. Helensays they’ve now built three homes, all of them are different. Previous homes were themed around Englisharchitecture but their current home has crossed the Atlantic to a French theme.
“Kiwis are very boring when it comes to their houses, but everyone isentitled to their own. With the castles – a lot of people love it, but a largeportion of people are not brave enough to step outside the box.”
The house has five bedrooms with current owners turning a garage into a sixths bedroom. Photo / Supplied.
The Brights like the “rustic-ness and the solidness” of the tower-housestructure, which they built using stone and concrete blocks and a lot ofrecycled bricks and tiles.
The 337 sq m property, which sits on 4980 sq m of freehold land, hasan outdoor deck with a fireplace, a ladies’ shed for pottering and gardeningwith a green roof, a patio, and a large garden.
The Brights sold their castle over two years ago to develop their nextproject.
The current owners, Diane and Stephen Jones, have operated the TeAwamutu castle as La Paloma, a bed and breakfast, easily achieving between $350 to$550 a night for a double bedroom.
A lot of the materials used to build the castle were recycled. Photo / Supplied.
Now selling the property due to a change of lifestyle, the Jones saythey fell in love with the place as soon as they saw it.
“It was really intriguing and the family who built it took us aroundand we just loved what they did,” Diane says.
Their children and grandchildren enjoyed staying in the fairy-tale-likecastle and so did travellers and international guests.
“When we tell people that we’ve bought the castle they go ‘wow’because it’s a different kind of home. It’s really lovely and we just love theambience of it.”
The property sits on 4980 sq m of freehold rural Waikato land. Photo/ Supplied.
The Powerhouse Realty Ltd agent Peter Fox-Wortington, of Cambridge, who is marketingthe property, says he has enquiries from a variety of people – from a family tobusiness owners wanting to run a coffee shop and a designer selling a brandedclothing line.
However, he notes the “very unusual” can take up to six months to selluntil the right buyer is found.
“The tower house is quirky and rich house, beautiful but it’s noteveryone’s cup of tea.”
