- Westhaven Retreat in Mangarākau sold for $20m after a six-year search for new owners.
- The New Zealand buyers plan to make it their permanent home and continue conservation work.
- The 330ha property, which includes a lodge, private forest and farm, set a Tasman price record.
A luxury lodge in Golden Bay, used as a backdrop for several reality TV shows, has sold for $20 million after a six-year hunt for new owners.
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Westhaven Retreat, in Mangarākau, Tasman, drew a lot of interest from overseas buyers, but in the end it was snapped up by a New Zealand family, who plan to make it their permanent home.
New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty agent Karyn von Engelbrechten, who had the listing for the last two years, said the new owners loved the private location and spectacular home.
The owners had initially wanted $24m for the lodge. Photo / Supplied
The 330ha property also includes a private forest and a working farm.
“It just worked out. They were really happy, and it was a pretty quick sale in the end,” Engelbrechten said. “Basically, both people are very happy. It was like the perfect seller and buyer together.”
The vendors, Monika and Bruno Stompe, had had the property on and off the market since 2018, when it was listed with an asking price of $24m, before later dropping to $22.7m.
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The couple purchased the property in 1991, when it was just a farm. They told the New Zealand Herald in 2020 that they had emigrated to Australia from Europe three years earlier and had never planned to live in New Zealand until they set eyes on the property.
They initially built a seven-bedroom home on the property and turned it into a bed and breakfast in 1997. The venture was so popular that they later built a 2732sqm lodge with eight guest suites, a 24-metre indoor heated swimming pool, a sauna, a yoga studio, and a library.
The property, which charged guests over $1000 a night, had several brushes with fame over the years. Several TV programmes, including Korean reality show Master in the House and survivalist reality series Tracked, were filmed at the resort.
The 330ha property includes a private forest and a working farm. Photo / Supplied
The Stompes’ daughter, Monika, and her husband also lived on the property and, according to an earlier Herald article, had helped run the farm. They also planted native trees and 110 ha of grassland on the property, which backs onto Kahurangi National Park.
Von Engelbrechten said the new owners would continue to run the farm and keep up the conservation work. “Their concern is to make sure the conservation aspect remains,” she told OneRoof.
The $20m sale price is a record for Tasman, and one of the highest this year.
- Click here to find more properties for sale in Tasman
