Papakura: Quaint and charming

It offers the perfect rural retreat laced with oodles of character. By VICKI HOLDER.

For people who have lived city lives, finding the perfect country home amounts to meeting an almost impossible list of criteria.

Switching to a rural lifestyle property, these buyers demand total privacy. They want peace and quiet - traffic noise is a definite no-no. Intrusive reminders of suburbia, like neighbours and powerlines, are also out. They find it hard to give up the convenience of city living and they don't want to live too far from shops or transport. Before they know it, the rural idyll becomes a pipe dream.

Unless they hit the jackpot, that is - like the owners of Broughton House in Papakura, who found their perfect country dream home and were able to bin their wish-list after searching for seven months.

Just five minutes from the Papakura train station sits a delightful bungalow built by a craftsman owner in 1926, which was shifted from Remuera to the site about 16 years ago. Full of original quirky Arts & Crafts character - including beautiful leadlight windows, timber ceiling beams and panelling - it bowled them over with its quaint charm.

The house has lots of living rooms, including a beautiful separate dining room and formal lounge off the hall, as well as a big study beside the front door.

The owners loved the character of the timber panelling around the study, but found the abundant timber a bit overwhelming, so they painted the walls for a more contemporary look. The dining room next door features beautiful arched leadlight windows complemented by a china cupboard in a matching design. Near the windows, the ceiling lowers to give an internal porch effect.

Of the beamed ceilings, the most magnificent is in the lounge, where the beams fan out from a deep, plastered ceiling rose that makes the room feel grand. A bay window with striking timber mullions looks out to the garden, while a fire burning in the pretty bungalow-style timber fire surround turns the focus inward during winter.

The owners have enlarged the main house by adding to the family room. A golden-coloured room adjacent to the kitchen, it opens to the sun through a glazed conservatory with bench seating. French doors extend to a terrace that encircles the family room on all three sides. The whole area looks out over the garden to rolling hills where cattle graze. The owners delight in the unspoilt backdrop of native bush in the distance.

Although there are only three bedrooms in the main house, a small, three-roomed kauri cottage with a sun-drenched front veranda provides comfortable, self-contained accommodation for visitors. Moved to the property from Browns Bay, it is equipped with a small kitchen and en suite.

The master bedroom downstairs features a beautiful, tall leadlight window. Its curved glass balloons outwards to make the most of the morning sun, and it frames the lush foliage in the garden. You would never guess that a row of original cupboards against the wall opens into an en suite and a large walk-in dressing room.

The two smaller bedrooms and toilet upstairs were recent additions. Steep, coved ceilings give the upstairs bedrooms a cute, cottage atmosphere. The unusual doors featuring sliding panels are from Catholic Church confessionals.

A portico was extended from the entry porch over the driveway to provide shelter when getting out of the car.

As well as dividing the garden into easy-care garden rooms, the owners have planted a herb and potager garden. There are pin oaks along the drive, lots of camellias, shrubs and quite a few olive trees on the lawn. Sharing a bore with a neighbouring property means there is an ample water supply.

As well as offering great potential as an income, this property allows the owners to enjoy the easy living in a real country environment.

Vital statistics:

ADDRESS: 258 Settlement Rd, Papakura.

FEATURES: Lifestyle property with renovated character bungalow and self-contained garden cottage; three bedrooms - master with dressing room and en suite; study; dining room; formal lounge and family area; free-standing fire in family room with open fire in lounge; good storage; shares a bore with neighbour; in-ground septic tank; underground wiring; pretty garden; land suitable for grazing cattle; greenhouses.

SIZE: Land area 4.16ha.

TENDER CLOSES: 3pm, October 23.

AGENT: Michael Boulgaris, Barfoot & Thompson, Remuera. Ph 524 0149 bus; 021 366 366 mob.