Heather Fillmore's wish list for this home conjured beautiful French-style farmhouses so vividly her architect assumed she'd holidayed around Europe.
"But I hadn't been anywhere back then," says Heather.
"I'd seen old barns down the road, which were all different shapes put together and that look pleased me."
Heather wasdoing a Nanette Cameron interior design course when she and husband John briefed late architect Robert Paterson. Their whimsical French-style cedar home wrapping around a central courtyard became an architectural show piece when completed around 1982.
It exuded warmth and welcome; a magnet for their friends, their children's friends and swarms of kids who came to the youth club they ran.
"I wanted things such as window seats big enough for the kids to fall sleep on after they'd been racing around enjoying country life," says Heather.
An early stint farming fuelled John's rural desires, buying here in 1977. By then he was expanding John Fillmore Contracting, a diverse civil construction and infrastructure company which, among other projects, has redeveloped high-profile central Auckland streetscapes such as Elliot St and St Patrick's Square.
Buyers can purchase this 41.48ha holding in its entirety or in two titles. It is made up of the 2.36ha lifestyle block with house plus 39.17ha with its own road front and subdivision potential.
Heather says: "People are a bit spellbound when they come here."
John figures that's due to the combination of the welcoming home and its strong connection to its relaxing environment dappled by mature trees. The long driveway through an evergreen grove culminates in the two-wing cedar home. Combined with the accompanying garage-studio and stables, it enfolds a central courtyard.
The home's low covered entry porches contrast with the soaring lines of vaulted beamed ceilings, introduced by a high-stud entry corridor.
Image 1 of 9: A sunny spot on a window seat caressed by the breeze is a favourite spot to wile away a summer afternoon.
A mid-1800s cottage peppered with musket holes from the land wars was on the site and its bricks live on in the lounge's fireplace breast. A family room has an inglenook-type fireplace nearby and a neighbouring office or fifth bedroom with a powder room.
The apex of the two wings is the farmhouse-style kitchen-dining-living room with rusticated Morris & James brick floor and precisely crafted sarked rimu ceilings.
John says: "There are thousands of metres of rimu in this house. Our builder had been a cabinetmaker and was such a perfectionist."
Heather's favourite spot is in the window seat by the dining table. "In summer you open its windows and the back door and get a breeze right through."
A pot belly, another fireplace and a scullery are useful inclusions. The layout intentionally makes a formal dining room a surprise, creating a sense of occasion when guests are invited in.
The accommodation wing has three bedrooms, a bathroom and laundry downstairs and the master suite upstairs.
Children, who can take the local bus to Strathallan school, love the bedroom, which has a mezzanine.
John saysthe master suite, which has a rejuvenated rose-hued en suite and walk-in-wardrobe "feels romantic because it has a deck and looks out towards wonderful bush".
Many rooms open outside, where there's an in-ground pool, a spa gazebo and tennis court.
Across the courtyard is the double garage with loft atop and double stables.
Some distance away a large shed fitting many vehicles comes with pig pens, chicken coop, shearing plant and yards.
The couple have let family and friends live here for the past decade after they moved to a Takapuna beachfront property they unexpectedly fell for.
