Howick: Country magnificence

Park-like grounds and a large, traditional-style masonry home offer modern and luxurious living in Howick. By VICKI HOLDER.

On a prestigious hilltop drive between city and country, Ashgrove savours the grandeur of a breath-taking outlook of suburbia, the Gulf islands and the sky. Set among a parade of lifestyle properties, this is one of the finest, on a large slice of possibly subdividable land sloping gently north towards the sun.

Ashgrove beckons from groomed, park-like gardens and expansive, immaculate lawns woven with a striking combination of silver and green planting. A grove of tall, leafy trees provides shelter and privacy from the road, creating a magnificent setting for the home, which the owners completely re-built when they purchased it in 1997.

As owners of a building company, they were able to bring to the property the kind of quality it deserved. The large, traditional home was built of masonry and lavished with a high degree of specification to give easy, modern and luxurious living.

They also renovated a two-bedroom cottage on the property. With its own driveway and internal-access garaging, the second home provides the owners with a rental income. There are all sorts of possibilities for the future here. The cottage could become guest accommodation or a bed and breakfast. And the sweeping lawn behind has room for a tennis court or further development.

Shaped like a boomerang, the main house offers substantial formal and family living across the entire northern side. All areas ease out through stacking glass sliders to expansive terraces that look through a glass balustrade to a sheltered, subtropical pool area landscaped with agaves and bromeliads. Large shade cloths drape across the terraces to offer a measure of shelter when the sun is at its hottest.

Visitors sample a taste of formality as they step from the entry foyer into a large, traditional lounge. Ornate cornices and a gas fire surrounded by granite with a feature mantelpiece give the room elegant character. Beautiful drapes and roman blinds in shaped pelmets dress up the windows, which offer views as far as Mt Eden and the Sky Tower.

Meals and drinks can be passed from the galley-style kitchen at one end through a granite servery to the dining room on the other side. Casual meals can be taken in the sunny family sitting area, or an even more relaxed atmosphere can be enjoyed at an island breakfast bar that extends from tall beige cabinetry, separating the food preparation area from a traffic passage.

Although there is a good-sized office for someone who works from home further along the entry hall, day-to-day household office work can be completed at a timber workstation in the family living area.

Well away from any other bedroom in the house, the master suite takes a wing at the far end of the living area. A passage leads past the bathroom - with a granite vanity top and underfloor heating beneath Italian ceramic floor tiles - and past a large dressing room to arrive at the bedroom. Doors from the bedroom open to the terrace, and the pool is only metres away.

In typical country style, the home was built with generous proportions to accommodate big, hard-wearing service areas. A sizeable laundry out the back opens to an enclosed courtyard with a thriving vegetable and herb garden, as well as quiet, sunny sitting areas.

A games or party room is handy to two double garages, which is ideal for the car enthusiast or someone with hobbies.

Designed for guests, a bedroom at the opposite end of the house sits next to its own bathroom. As there is normally just the two of them, the owners live in the bottom half of the home, hardly needing to venture upstairs. However, when their adult children come to stay, they have their own realm upstairs with three more bedrooms and another lounge where they can entertain without disturbing their parents below.

Offering country magnificence combined with sophisticated city style, Ashgrove is perfect for the larger family wanting a rural lifestyle with everything close at hand.

Vital Statistics

ADDRESS: 290 Pt View Dr, Howick.

FEATURES: Lifestyle property close to Botany Downs; subdividable land with city and harbour views; park-like gardens with irrigation system; huge outdoor living on sunny, north-facing terraces; formal and family rooms opening to terrace; five bedrooms; office; games room; four-car garaging; separate two-bedroom guest house with own driveway and garaging; large service areas; abundant storage; water tanks; security alarm sensors; central vacuum system; two phone lines.

SIZE: Land area 8092sq m.

TENDER CLOSES: April 22.

AGENT: Karen Drinkrow, Bayleys Clark Weir Realty, Howick. Ph 535 5480 bus; 0274 594 221 mob.