Ramarama: Stopping traffic

A couple with itchy feet are selling up their idyllic estate.

Chapel Lodge, 801 Runciman Rd, Ramarama.

At Ron and Peggy Carr's piece of paradise, glossy standard-bred yearlings and brood mares lean over fences in surroundings so manicured that they would not be out of place in the racehorse country of Kentucky or Virginia.

As Ron explains laconically, "Breeding standard-breds [trotters to the uninitiated] might be my main hobby, but there's lots else I keep myself busy with round here."

Such as raising pedigree Herefords, running up to 100 fat lambs and delivering 18 dozen eggs per fortnight from his happy flock of free range Schaeffer hens to his friend at Gladstone Meats in Parnell.

Three of the paddocks produce all of the hay required, and regular stock rotation, harrowing and fertilising keeps the land in good heart. So picturesque are the 400 specimen trees of all varieties that provide shade and shelter in the corners of the fields, and the well fenced races and the streams that bound the property, that they literally stop traffic.

"In the autumn we have people stopping on the roadside to photograph the place - the golden poplars in particular are just spectacular."

Six years ago Ron and Peggy bought the property and two years later built their home on a grassy knoll right in the middle of the verdant acres.

Sturdy and easy-care, it is a brick and tile Golden Home dwelling with five bedrooms, lots of living space and roomy bathrooms. Four cars can park undercover and, being in the country, there is no lack of space for extra visitors to park in the turnaround yard. But it is at the rear that the home really comes into its own. French doors and wide decks flow out on to lawns that slope gently down to a small rippling stream, a tributary of the slightly larger Ngakoroa Stream which forms one of the boundaries. Oaks just bursting into spring leaf are planted along the edge of this and frame a view of pastoral activity so idyllic it could be from a painting.

A second three-bedroom home, presently tenanted, is situated some distance away with its own entrance from the road. Near this is what once would have been a cow shed, but is now where Ron handles and feeds his yearlings. For all their commitment to Chapel Lodge, as this property is called, Ron and Peggy have a new love. It sits parked and gleaming in the huge concrete-floored implement shed to the rear of the property. In this new motor home they aim to explore the highways and byways of New Zealand, then ship the vehicle to Australia and do the same there. And you can't do that while you have animals to husband and land to care for.

"We will buy something else - but it'll be smaller," says Ron. "I'll cut down the number of mares, but some I just can't be parted from forever."

Vital Statistics

BEDROOMS: 8

BATHROOMS: 4

GARAGE: 5

SIZE: Land 22.82ha, main house 250sq m, second house 180 sq m.

PRICE INDICATION: $2.95-$3.5 million. Tenders close December 9.

INSPECT: By appointment.

CONTACT: James Twigg, Barfoot and Thompson Papakura, 09 298 8029 bus, 021 500 668 mob, 09 292 4885 a/h.

FEATURES: Small specialist farm of outstanding natural beauty in excellent order. Suitable for a wide range of uses with a variety of well-kept farm buildings, high quality fencing and pastures. Two homes, one currently tenanted.