To the manor drawn

Have you ever been inside a Cotswold cottage? Or a rambling villa in Tuscany? Perhaps a French farmhouse? Before this article starts sounding like a travel brochure, I should point out that you don't need to fly half-way around the world for the experience. Just pop on to the Southern Motorway and turn off at Manurewa.

That's where you'll find Orford Lodge, a manor-like house dripping in history and character. It has the sort of presence you just don't find in our young land, and a setting plucked straight from a BBC costume drama - its cottagey windows look out across a clearing to a majestic forest, albeit partly borrowed from the neighbouring Orford Park.

The house was built in 1910 by a lawyer, Mr Edward Russell, and is listed as having Grade II historical and architectural merit with the local council. The house and 9ha of land were bought in 1928 by the Earl of Orford, a descendant of Sir Robert Walpole who became the first Prime Minister of England in 1721.

During the Second World War, the lodge and grounds were used by the US Army. The garage was the officers' mess, and a fireplace they built there bears the signatures of soldiers.

The lodge and land were bought by the Manurewa Borough Council in 1961. The lodge and some of the land was sold but the native bush surrounding the property was designated as a park.

The lodge retains a parcel of bush on its 2707 sq m which trills with bird life including wood pigeons, rosellas, kingfishers, tui, fantails and gold finches. The many trees around the house include fruit trees like apple, pear, apricot and peach, as well as the ancient grape vine that swathes the side of the house.

The lodge itself show the hallmarks of the architecture of its time, strongly influenced by Arts and Crafts architect Chapman Taylor. The Arts and Crafts movement believed in permanence, honesty and simplicity rather than the excesses of the Victorian era. The external roughcast walls are double brick and 30cm thick, creating deep reveals on the multi-paned windows.

Dormer windows peek from the Dutch gable roof. The ceilings are heavily beamed, the kauri doors are five-brace plank style with Kentish latches, the bathroom floors are tessellated tile and the original inglenook fireplace sits in the parlour. All 10 of the maids' bells work; there's even one above the upstairs bath.

The white-painted, farmhouse-style kitchen has the original cast iron stove and separate butler's pantry. Next to the kitchen is a conserv-atory-style room with a solid ceiling but windows and glazed doors on two sides and marble tiles underfoot. Used for casual dining by the owners, it sparkles with sunlight filtered through the trees outside. Leading off this room, a service room could be used as a laundry, sewing room or study.

The bathroom on this level is large and airy, with a separate toilet which features the original cistern. The room has external access, and pretty blue and white tessellated tiles on the floor in a basketweave pattern.

The living areas of the house are extensive. In the main body of the house, a small sitting area has a corner fireplace and windows that look out on to the park. A formal dining room separates this from a small library and the loggia area.

Although now a two-part enclosed parlour with windows and french doors overlooking the garden, the loggia was once a walled porch, partly open to the outside. The original layout is easy to see.

The upper storey is given over entirely to the five bedrooms, two of which have their own Art Deco style handbasins, and another which has a corner fireplace with a simple Arts and Crafts mantel. Dormer windows create a sense of spaciousness and character.

The bathroom features the original tiled walls and moulded porcelain bath.

Beside the house, a swimming-pool complex includes a summer house, which would have once been servants' quarters, with a bathroom and separate gardener's toilet. Connecting this and the house is a large laundry.

The pool is surrounded by landscaped gardens and separated from the road by a tall, ivy-clad wall and row of golden-leafed standard elms.

The garage that once housed an army, was originally a cottage, and still has two bedrooms attached. The garage itself has the aforementioned fireplace and a long workshop bench. In front of the garage, a double carport provides extra shelter.

It completes a substantial estate that is unique to New Zealand. Orford Lodge needs a new loving guardian, a family perhaps, or to be opened up to visitors as a homestay. Whatever its next phase, its solid walls and character-filled interior will endure.