Bombay villa a green-thumbed haven

80 Razorback Road, Bombay, Auckland. Photo / Ted Baghurst.

80 RAZORBACK RD, BOMBAY

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SIZE: Land 1.724ha, house approx 283sq m + 30sq m chapel.

PRICE INDICATION: Interest expected around $1 million. Auction March 31 (unless sold prior).

INSPECT: Sat/Sun 3-4pm.

ON THE WEB: barfoot.co.nz/471009

SCHOOL ZONES: Bombay School, Pukekohe High School.

CONTACT: Margaret Wilson and Pip Charles, Barfoot & Thompson Pukekohe, ph (09) 238 7019; mob 027 4682228 (Margaret) or 027 296 0369 (Pip).

FEATURES: Park-like gardens, two-storey villa, extra bedroom-bathroom above garage; pool, wedding chapel, large sheds and bore. Views across Auckland.

Wedding parties and gardening tour groups have flocked to the splendid gardens Jenny and Miles Pope have created around their elegant, two-storey, Bombay villa.

Long-time resident of the area, Jenny says, "I love old villas and I used to drive up this road and think, 'I'd love that house'. Then, when we bought it we wanted to do justice to it by creating big, elegant, park-like grounds."

After buying here 23 years ago, she and Miles created Addenbrooke Gardens, named for her grandmother's maiden name, while raising three daughters. Central to their large grounds is the turn-of-the century villa which they've heard may have been a coach-stop when Razorback Rd was the main highway to Waikato.

Miles owns an agricultural contracting business and has been invaluable in re-contouring the grounds and features such as the waterfall-fed pond. Once the gardens were established, brides-to-be and gardening groups came calling seeking a venue. This prompted the Popes to obtain a resource consent (which is still current) to operate the business and add a small wedding chapel. The gardens have hosted more than 150 weddings, including one particularly memorable one at which a possum ran amok during photography after a guest accidentally disturbed his leafy perch.

The pohutukawa-lined drive runs through large gardens, culminating in a circular clipped knot garden in front of the statuesque home. In it is an impressive ancient piece of swamp kauri, that often features in bridal party photos.

The entrance hall shows how the villa is laden with kauri, with its wide kauri floorboards and kauri staircase that Jenny painstakingly stripped of paint. It's flanked by a formal lounge and dining room, both with kauri fireplaces. The kitchen at the back is the home's hub, extended by the Popes with a conservatory-style bank of doors opening flow to the gardened pool. The country-style kitchen, sarked in timber, includes a big island with bar seating, two ovens, a windowseat and a wood-burner.

Explaining the villa's wide northwestern views, Miles says, "We look right over Auckland from coast to coast really, right around from the Manukau Harbour, past the Sky Tower and night lights of the city and round to Rangitoto."

The couple use the downstairs bedroom as their office and the laundry and bathroom are off a back corridor. The two bedrooms upstairs have their charms; one opening to a big veranda and the master teamed with a walk-through wardrobe and bathroom with clawfoot bath.

The sizeable fourth bedroom and its own bathroom are atop the double garage just outside the villa, making it an ideal teenage or guest hangout.

The swimming pool and neighbouring spa, with gazebo and outdoor entertaining area, are set in lovely gardens, kept lush by the property's own bore. Further afield a pergola walk made of beams from the old Meremere power station leads to the pond. A circular fountain garden near a telephone-box garden, a rear "secret garden" and a side cottage garden are other highlights. Jenny's peppered the gardens with antique farm machinery, including an original wagon from the Stone Store at Kerikeri. Her creativity is illustrated by a sculptural screen outside the garden chapel, crafted from recycled chains that once pulled feed-troughs in a chook shed.

The chapel is also adorned with climbing roses, recycled leadlight windows and church doors. It's been useful, providing hot drinks and toilets for guests. There's a separate drive and parking for tour buses near two big sheds which can also house more vehicles.

Now the girls have started their own families Jenny and Miles are downsizing and travelling.