FEATURES:
A partially modernised three-bedroom home with spacious living areas on a large private section in a picturesque spot between Langs Beach and Waipu Cove, with panoramic views over Bream Bay.
It's hard to say who is the least impressed with Deidre Burley's decision to sell her Langs Beach hideaway: Deidre, her children, or her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Deidre loves the house for its privacy, its mature gardens and its wide views over Bream Bay. Her four adult children love gettingsettled into a sunny spot for family get-togethers. Her youngest descendants love the freedom of the 6369sq m section and its proximity to both Waipu Cove and Langs Beach.
But Deidre has reluctantly accepted that with her 81st birthday fast approaching, it's time to move closer to her children.
Deidre's relationship to the area goes back to the 1960s when her late husband began work at the newly built Marsden Point Oil Refinery - which she can see from her current home. The couple and their four children moved to Ruakaka and her daughter Heather Crosbie recalls an idyllic beachside upbringing.
Deidre moved up to the hills overlooking Ruakaka five years ago. "When Mum first went to look at this place she just fell in love with it," says Heather. "It's just beautiful."
The serene Tudor-inspired home, built in the 1980s, was evidently designed to take in the views and give plenty of options for indoor and outdoor living.
Deidre loves that she can stand at her kitchen sink and gaze out at the water. She also loves breakfasts at the dining table, from where she can enjoy the tranquillity of both the garden and the sea through wrap-around windows - and the company of a tui that regularly flitters in to visit the bird bath. "Mum reckons he's a good mate," says Heather.
Stormy or sunny, the house has proved itself a popular holiday home for the family, with large separate living areas downstairs and a single garage that they've converted into a rumpus room. Upstairs, two of the home's three double bedrooms share a deck, a bathroom and grandstand views. Even the main bathroom downstairs has a peaceful outlook of the garden. As well as converting the rumpus room, the family has modernised the kitchen and main bathroom, and created a concreted patio out front from where everyone can enjoy the 180-degree views.
Though Deidre doesn't often attempt the 10-minute walk to Waipu Cove these days, she loves strolling around the expansive gardens, devotedly landscaped and planted by the previous owner. The landscaping includes a couple of goldfish ponds. To Deidre's horror, certain younger members of the family have used these for fishing practise - presumably schooling themselves up to one day take on the legendary fishing grounds off the coast here. Though the goldfish won't miss Deidre's descendants, she'll miss the fish - and everything else in her private paradise.
"She is very reluctant to leave," says Heather. "I know all of us feel the same. But she always said she'd move on when the time was right. She's decided the time's right."
However, it's becoming a challenge to find a suitable new home for Deidre, who has become so accustomed to having complete privacy that she can't get her head around the prospect of once again being near neighbours and noise.
"It's really hard when you've had such a beautiful spot on the top of the hill with no one around you," says Heather.
