Come to the annual gathering of the Cameron clan at Kaukapakapa, north of Auckland, and you’ll be hosted by James and Fay Cameron of 137 Cameron Way.
The road’s Cameron name is no coincidence. James and Fay had to find a name for a track they upgraded to a legal road after they subdivided the land they bought here. So Cameron Way it was.
The couple, who hail from Scotland, decided to settle in New Zealand after sailing the world for 12 years. “We thought about all the countries we had visited and decided New Zealand was the best place to come and live,” says Fay.
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They lived in Helensville and then Ararimu, south of Auckland, but wanted more land for breeding highland cattle.
“We like the winterless north, so we moved up here,” she says. “The area it is so peaceful, very rural and yet you are so close to everything. It is not a big distance to get to Warkworth and I work in the city and it is an easy commute.”
They are now one of the biggest highland cattle breeders in New Zealand.
First, the Camerons lived in another house in this gated community but they sold that house and 10 acres.
Next, they built the barn accommodation on this land at 137 Cameron Way, living there while they built their dream home.
Janes, Fay and son Jamie, 16, now live in that north-facing four-bedroom home and it is for sale with 1.6 ha of land. The rest of the farm plus the barn is for sale in an 80ha package of 32 paddocks.
Fay says they get a lot of pleasure from their rural surroundings.
“It has this amazing feeling. I am driving home from work in the city and you get off the motorway at Silverdale and you enter relaxation mode on the country roads because it is so peaceful. By the time you are home, you are in heaven.
“At my workplace they have these ideas of wellness and meditation. I say what I don’t need to meditate because I just walk around the farm and enjoy the countryside. Looking at nature, you can switch off completely.
“We love the outdoors and we put our home in the position we can sit in the spa and look out at the beautiful countryside.”
The 365sq m (more or less) home has open-plan lounge/dining/kitchen with wood burner, a sunroom (also with wood burner) beside the heated pool, the parents’ bedroom at one of the house, and their son’s room plus a soundproofed media room at the other. Outside by the pool with glass balustrades is the cabana with pizza oven. A deck runs the full length of the home.
There is four-car garaging and an electric car charging.
The couple say this home is an entertainers’ paradise, whether it’s planned, like the Club Cameron gathering and visits from fellow highland cattle breeders, or impromptu gatherings of friends.
“A really nice group of people live in the area. If you ever need a hand with anything, they’re more than willing to help,” says Fay.
“And we will often have impromptu parties or say we are putting on the pizza oven, why don’t you come around?”
While James ran the farm. Fay worked in the city and Jamie went to Kaukapakapa primary school, catching the bus at the end of the road, and later to Mahurangi College in Warkworth.
Now, the family are selling to return to Scotland.
“We got to be one of the biggest highland cattle breeders in New Zealand and then unfortunately my husband had to have a hip operation. He is not is able to be as active as he would like to. It is time to give up the farm.
“We have some grand plans of what we will do when we get to Scotland. Our son will go to university in Glasgow to study music.”
John Barnett, of Bayleys, says this property is amongst a rare breed, in that there’s something for everyone: location, land and lifestyle.
“There’s the spacious family home that can seamlessly extend to welcome any size crowd for pool or dinner parties, the farm with easy rolling pasture where wild fallow deer roam free and there’s proposed plans to add a further four titles.
“Potential purchasers looking for a feature-packed estate so close to Auckland should consider this: the whole 80ha farm and home or a 78ha grazing lifestyle block or just the home on 1.6ha.”
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