- Judith Nye and her late husband Emil built Castell Bach in Okiato, inspired by a Welsh castle.
- The four-bedroom castle features turrets, a dungeon, and a pendulum clock.
- Bayleys agent David Baguley expects interest from local and overseas buyers for the unique property.
Growing up in Cambridge, England, Judith Nye had no inkling she would one day live in a Welsh-inspired castle in New Zealand's Far North.
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But that’s where Nye and her late husband Emil built Castell Bach (little castle) and spent happy years after moving to New Zealand in the 1970s with their three children.
The castle, in Okiato, or Old Russell, is inspired by Castell Coch (red castle) in Wales and comes with a dungeon (where the laundry is), turrets and a big pendulum clock.
Nye now lives in Auckland, and the castle is on the market for sale with an RV is $3.23 million.
There are four bedrooms, three bathrooms and views out toward Opua, Paihia and Waitangi.
The modern castle is the work of Brit Judith Nye and her late husband Emil. Photo / Supplied
Castell Coch, in Tongwynlais, Wales. The 19th-century fortress was the inspiration for Castell Bach. Photo / Getty Images
Okiato was the first capital of New Zealand, and the land where the castle is was the address of the first Governor of New Zealand, William Hobson, at the time of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.
Nye says her family had been in Northland for a holiday, and thought it would be great to have a cottage near the water, so they started idly looking in real estate windows.
An agent in Paihia told them there was land for sale in Okiato and took them over to have a look. “We saw this section, which is actually part of the original capital of New Zealand that James Clendon sold to the government in 1840. The farmer who owned it was selling it off in two or three sections, and we rather fell for it,” Nye told OneRoof.
The couple approached architect Martyn Evans, who had been recommended to them. Evans grew up in Wales and used to play at Castell Coch in the Cardiff area as a child and, according to Nye, had always wanted to recreate the castle.
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“We went to see him, and he said, ‘Well, yes, I have an idea for some plans.’”
Nye said she and Emil loved what Evans showed them and went ahead with the build.
Anneliese Allen, Nye’s daughter, told OneRoof that the castle had become a local landmark. “Everybody knows about the castle and goes, ‘Oh, you're the people from the castle.' It's quite a feature, and because it's located by a walkway down to the beach, everybody stops and takes photos of it.”
There were challenges building a castle because of the round structure, she said. “Most of it is round, and round is hard to build. I remember going up when they were having it built, and there were layers of gib board suspended between two blocks, and it’s gently wetted with a little bit of weight on it, and gradually increasing the weight every time to make the gib board take on the round shape.
The circular structure was challenging to build. photo / Supplied
The water views are stunning. Photo / Supplied
“A lot of really unique challenges building something that's not square, but it makes for such a lovely atmosphere, warm and inviting and cozy.”
Allen said her parents kept the castle theme going, with a barbican, a dungeon, a long gallery walkway upstairs and a “great hall”.
She said they believe the castle was built on the site of Mrs Hobson’s rose garden, adding that a public reserve up the road had a well from the time and is a preserved historic site.
Selling was not easy, she said, as the castle “has a lot of dad in it”.
“He helped with the sarking of the ceiling and the great hall, and he made the cedar wooden doors that go on the house and things like that," Allen told OneRoof.
“It's got a tower clock in the entranceway. The pendulum is four metres long, and Dad spent hours and hours and hours getting the clock going."
Bayleys agent David Baguley, who is marketing the property with colleague Irene Bremner, said the castle was sure to be noticed in the current market. “We expect interest from within the Bay of Islands, across New Zealand, and from overseas buyers seeking a safe and stable place to live.”
The listing describes passing through a covered portico and past the clock tower to arrive in a central courtyard where double cedar doors open to the main reception room at the base of the circular tower, which is the architectural heart of the home.
Curved stairs rise within the main tower to the master suite, and the house has two wings. In one is a spiral staircase to a mezzanine gallery, and down below is a workshop.
In the other wing, a long gallery leads to separate guest quarters, and there’s a self-contained flat above the garage.
- 16 James Clendon Place, Russell, Far North, is for sale, tender closing April 30
