- Three Greymouth business partners bought the South Westland Salmon Farm and Cafe for $600,000.
- The buyers won’t keep it as a salmon farm or cafe, but plans are unclear.
- The property attracted global interest for its lifestyle and location, offering fishing and hunting opportunities.
West Coast buyers have snapped up a salmon farm in the middle of nowhere – but what they plan to do with it is anyone’s guess.
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Three business partners from Greymouth paid the $600,000 asking price for the South Westland Salmon Farm and Cafe on State Highway 6 in Paringa, Westland.
Bayleys agent Harrison Martin told OneRoof the purchasers were not going to keep the property as a salmon farm or cafe, but he was unsure of their exact plans.
The cafe has potential to be converted into a hunting or fishing lodge. Photo / Supplied
“They played their cards very close to their chest and said, ‘Yes, we will buy it’, and that was that,” Martin said.
“I assume they will just turn it into a lodge or something.”
The sale settled last week and vendor Ben Monk, who owns the surrounding beef farm, agreed to keep feeding the salmon for two more months until the new buyers decided what to do with them.
Martin said the unique property attracted interest from all over the world, including Norway, Sweden and Australia.
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Most wanted it for the lifestyle of running a live-in business, but a small number looked at it as a holiday home or a property for their retirement.
“I think people were drawn to its location, its isolation, and the lifestyle opportunities it’s got there – the fishing, jet boating, hunting. It’s a beautiful part of the world,” Martin said.
The salmon farm had been running since the 1980s, when Monk’s parents, Graham and Brenda, built the ponds next to the family beef farm.
Graham sold his crayfish quota in 1996 and used the money to build the large café and gift shop overlooking the salmon ponds.
Monk returned home to the West Coast in 2007 to run the family beef farm before purchasing the salmon farm and café from them in 2013.
Monk told OneRoof in May that his dad had perfected making the best cold-smoked salmon around.
“Our smoked salmon is our signature – it is incredible. Dad tweaked it, and we get a lot of comments. It is the best smoked salmon most people have ever tasted.”
Monk said they only sold it in the café. “It just goes gangbusters.”
The 7711sqm property had been pitched as an opportunity to own and run a small salmon farm or convert the large open-plan building into a lodge, which would address the accommodation shortage in the area.
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