Country: Modern masterpiece

By SHARON NEWEY

If you didn't look out of the enormous windows of this Pip Cheshire-designed house, you would swear you were in the city.

Clean lines, vaulted ceilings, bold colours and sumptuous spaces give it an urbane and sophisticated flavour.

But then you look out the window where lush terraced gardens step down the section in front of you, where a bush-clad ridge runs beside you and points the way to the distant view of One Tree Hill.

Traffic noise, there isn't. Bird call, there is. And not a neighbour in sight. Bliss.

Tucked into a hidden dell in Oratia in West Auckland, past the vineyards of Forest Hill Rd, this modern masterpiece of a house is a perfect family retreat. The circular drive and low entry porch are the precursors to a house that opens its arms wide to the views and the northern sun.

Inside, the entry foyer is a pivot point for three distinct spaces. To the left is the master bedroom with an en suite and walk-through wardrobe. Beside it, the swimming pool and environs are a show-stopper.

Along one side, a vibrant cobalt blue wall is the backdrop to dramatic cacti plantings - tall telegraph cacti and enormous prickly pears. The pool itself is dark-lined and complemented with plenty of decking for relaxing in the sun.

Also to the left of the entry foyer, the large formal lounge has a vaulted barrel ceiling, a wood-burning fireplace, built-in cabinets and windows that open onto the double-level deck and the view. The room's tall walls become the perfect gallery for large artworks, and a striking span of trapeze lighting transforms the space at night.

Down wide steps alongside a rich yellow wall, the equally large family room also faces north and opens to decks. Above the deck, deep eaves allow for the house's doors to be flung open in any weather. The family room is large enough for plenty of sitting and dining, and is warmed by a woodburner.

Next to it, the cornflower blue kitchen has walls of storage, stainless-steel benches and is supplemented by a huge laundry and scullery space - perfect for the chest freezer.

A fifth bedroom or study plus a guest toilet sit between the kitchen and the double garage with its adjoining workshop room and a wall of storage - at present used as a wine cellar.

The remaining part of the house is the upstairs children's wing. Two of the three bedrooms share a large balcony on the northern side and all of the bedrooms share a bathroom and separate toilet.

The house is special enough but it's the garden that completes this superb property. A delightful blend of intimate corners and grand spaces, it is thoughtfully landscaped.

Outside the kitchen, a potager garden overflows with vegetables and herbs and a colourful birdbath sits on river pebbles. A swathe of crescent-shaped lawn wraps around the northern side of the house and is edged with deciduous trees, underplanted with lavender.

Beyond this, a scoria-chip path has a vanguard of evenly spaced palms and ferns and leads past a large, circular, enclosed lawn to a restful fern-edged pond.

The plantings are varied. Close to the house, rose bushes are having their last flush, but in the main, palms rub shoulders with canna lilies, ferns, manuka, agaves, other succulents and grasses.

The owners built the house and developed the gardens 12 years ago, but with the rains of the Waitakere foothills and the sunny northern aspect, the garden is mature and established.

It's the sort of setting you wouldn't get closer to Auckland city, but poised as it is, 20 minutes' drive from the city and 20 minutes to the west coast beaches, it's what makes this cosmopolitan house very special.

Vital statistics

ADDRESS: 180 Forest Hill Rd, Oratia.

FEATURES: Four bedrooms plus study or fifth bedroom; two bathrooms; two separate toilets; formal lounge; family room; decks; swimming pool; double garage with workshop and storage; landscaped gardens with potager and pond.

SIZE: House 365 sq m; land 9190 sq m.

TENDER: On April 23.

CONTACT: Andrea Bell and Iain Rankine, Bayleys, Head Office. Ph 309 6020 bus; Andrea 360 1878 ah; 021 906 793 mob; Iain 021 935 778 mob.