393 Drury Hills Rd, Drury, Auckland. Photo / Ted Baghurst
As owner of a painting company, Wayne Roxburgh has visited hundreds of properties — but he's never seen one with a setting similar to that of the imposing two-storey home in which he and his young family live.
It's elevated with a hillside backdrop mingling rock and landscaped gardens.
Wayne says: "I was told there was an early quarry here with a little railway quarrying rock out of the hillside for the curbing along Queen St.
"Whatever went on it created a really special setting which is striking and at the same time very peaceful."
He and his partner Jache moved here in 2016 and set about upgrading the already premium home they now share with sons 18-month-old Aiden and four-month-old Tyler, and their rottweiler, Sauv.
Wayne says: "It's an amazing home; we love it. It was built just over eight years ago and is one of the neighbouring houses a builder built for himself, his son and his daughter."
"It's up a lovely lane where everyone's really friendly and where all the families get together at Christmas
"We're handy to Drury Village, only about 4km from the motorway and 15 minutes to Pukekohe."
Wayne had electric gates and fencing installed and upgraded the 1.04ha property's gravel driveway with exposed stone and sensor lighting.
There's additional parking outside as well as the carpeted double garage with internal access to the home, built of high-spec textured plaster over a cavity system.
Not surprisingly, given Wayne's profession, the home has been repainted inside and out.
There's oak flooring downstairs, including the entry foyer and its gated wine cellar.
One of the things they like best is the way their expansive indoor living flows to outdoor entertaining areas, which feature a sound system. The open-plan kitchen-dining-living room with heat pump and woodburner is bolstered by a family room where they've added a granite bar with fridge.
These living areas flow to two spacious covered patios. One has a gas Escea fireplace and a barbeque. The other overlooks the in-ground salt-water pool which features fountains and is surrounded by granite coping stone and decking. Aiden learnt to swim in the pool.
He also adores the playground his parents established, re-siting an existing playhouse with a spider crane and complementing it with dual built-in slides, a trampoline, sandpit and swings.
Wayne says: "He has 'playground' time twice a day and he absolutely loves it."
Adults are more enamoured with the elevated observation deck they've added to the hillside, looking out over the property and countryside. Wayne had 50 big pine trees removed from behind the home, clearing scrubby bush and replacing it with native planting.
Back inside, schist accents the recently refurbished kitchen which has a servery window to the pool patio, two dishdrawers, a walk-in pantry and a built-in coffee machine.
There is also a bedroom (currently used as an office), a powder room and a new laundry on this level.
A staircase with wrought-iron handrail matching a wrought-iron feature light leads upstairs. Three more good-sized bedrooms up here are serviced by a smart family bathroom, plus the spacious master suite with walk-in-wardrobe has a sizeable en suite and a great outlook.
The family have decided to move to make life with two young children easier by living closer to family and to Wayne's work.