Exchanging busy Auckland city life — his in business, hers in teaching — brought Shane and Paula Walsh to a remarkable lifestyle change on the banks of the Waikato four years ago.
The couple, who grew up in the region, wanted a sanctuary where they could grow their own food and live the good life. Finding an immaculate 1906 villa right on the banks of the Waikato River, with its own gardens and orchards on more than 4.5ha was even more than they dreamed.
The property and grounds at 212b Newell Rd, Tamahere, are being sold by set sale, closing June 10, by LJ Hooker agent Karl Finn.
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“We wanted a nice house, but we were just blown away by this,” says Shane.
“You come down this tree-lined entrance and the house is hidden from the road so you wind down to it. It’s just spectacular in the autumn colours.
“We love cooking, so it was great to grow our own vegetables in the huge potager. It has an organic orchard, we have geese, chickens, bees, sheep and cattle. And we’ve caught trout down on the sandy beach on the river.”
The nearly 500sq m house has a remarkable back story, moved to the Tamahere property midway between Hamilton and Cambridge in 1990 from its original site in Claudelands. It was built to extraordinary standards in 1906 by the Primrose family, was a peace haven for returning soldiers in the 1940s and from the 1950s, a Catholic retreat house then monastery until the 1980s.
By the time the Walshs bought it, it was being used as a respite centre, with beautifully fitted bedrooms and bathrooms and a proper kitchen, with a cosy living room tucked to one side.
“We didn’t buy it with the intention to be a B&B, we just wanted the beautiful house and gardens. We just do the B&B when we feel like it on the side,” says Shane.
It helped that Paula speaks fluent Mandarin, and that showing off the best of their local food is a passion for the couple.
The house was in a good state when they bought it, but they worked with an interior designer to upgrade bedrooms, install curtains and colours and make the most of the antique furniture. There are four enormous reception rooms. One, known as the Chapel Room, still has the carved room dividers that once held the alter for mass. Along with the huge dining room, it has a working fireplace. Many of the rooms open to one of four verandas and there are original sash windows, leadlight glass and pressed steel ceilings.
As well as the productive vegetable potager, earlier owners had landscaped the grounds with gravel walks and clipped hedges complementing a variety of mature trees, making the monastery a popular outing for gardening clubs.
But underpinning the gracious mansion is a modern pellet burner central heating system, solar panels for hot water, new wiring and insulation.
This is a flexible place, lovely to live in and host visiting children and family, says Shane, but the couple’s next life plan is to travel, so it is time to pass the house on to the next owners.
Karl Finn from LJ Hooker, who is marketing the property, says that with its country living zoning the property has potential for subdivision into six titles. It currently has a council valuation of $2.34 million,
“This is one of those very rare opportunities to secure a large parcel of premium riverside land in what is arguably Waikato’s best location.
“The northwest-facing peninsula has views of the Waikato River stretching in either direction,” he says.
“All of the land is of the highest quality. There are so many options — relocate the house, build your own dream house — on the very best position in Tamahere.”
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