SCHOOL ZONES:
Warkworth Primary School, Mahurangi College.
CONTACT:
Margaret Olsen or Jeneen Binsted, Harcourts Warkworth, ph (09) 425 7889, Margaret 027 478 7132, Jeneen 027 536 7107.
FEATURES:
Modern single-level, four-bedroom family home on a largely bush-covered section, featuring concrete, plywood and corrugated iron as building and decorative materials. Underfloor heating throughout, gas fire in lounge. Property includes jetty and boatshed on the Mahurangi River.
When your family has owned a farm on the banks of the Mahurangi River for 55 years and you are offered 12ha of land, with jetty and a boatshed, to build on, what do you say?
If you're Peter and Lesley Ingham, you say yes, of course. They'd lived on2ha on the other side of Warkworth when the golden opportunity came up 12 years ago.
They also knew exactly what they wanted to build - and their vision didn't include anything like a traditional farmhouse. Instead they built an almost industrial home, featuring corrugated iron, concrete block and plywood.
Despite - or perhaps because of - its gutsy building materials, the single-level home hugs the land and seems to belong where it is, next to the pasture, bush and riverside mangroves.
"We are not conformists," says Peter of the couple's taste in architecture.
Says Lesley: "We just wanted to build something that would work for us, and that we would like to live in. We wanted to have somewhere where everybody could get together and not fall over each other."
They also built something intensely personal. To start, Lesley drew up the floor plans, featuring two wings connected by a central, open-plan family area, which were then interpreted by architectural draughtsman Martin Harnish.
Peter also used his skills as a qualified joiner and cabinetmaker to do much of the joinery and build most of the cabinetry himself.
That extends to the shelving and fire surround in the separate lounge, the impressive wardrobe and storage units in the master suite's expansive walk-in wardrobe, and even the front door. Then there's the kitchen - as partner in a kitchen firm, Peter was able to source materials many of us might never have encountered before, including a truly stunning South African granite for the benchtop.
Lesley relates how a geologist was once among their guests and seemed more interested in the kitchen materials than the company. "He made a beeline for the bench," she says. "He said there are seven different rocks in here, including granite."
Stunning in its design and use of materials, this is also a very family-friendly home - with four children, that was top of Lesley and Peter's list of priorities. Entry is via the large open-plan kitchen and living area in the centre of the house, with your eyes immediately drawn out the other side, over the large deck to the mangroves, river and native bush beyond.
To the right is the adults' wing, with a separate lounge, featuring a gas fire, and the master suite beyond. To the left are a study and the children's wing, with the family bathroom and three double bedrooms.
It's all connected through clever use of those industrial materials - a polished, exposed aggregate floor throughout the house (with underfloor heating), concrete-block walls, unadorned timber joinery and polyurethaned plywood lining the often curved ceilings and some of the walls.
The outside living is just as important - many large family Christmases have been held here, and parties hosting up to 100 guests.
"Our favourite thing is on Christmas Day we have a brunch under the pergola, and it's just gorgeous," Lesley says. And, adds Peter, it's a great place to have breakfast.
They've created a garden that goes with the house and the landscape, rich in tropicals, subtropicals and grasses. Needless to say, the bird life is abundant.
Peter and Lesley love the rural hideaway they have created, just 3km from the centre of Warkworth, which has given them the best of both worlds. However, the children are mostly grown now and they've decided to downsize. They won't be going very far, though. There's another block of land on the family farm that hasn't been built on yet.
