Unique Canterbury home a hunter’s dream

A Canterbury couple spent an unexpected decade developing their own Grand Designs-style home where they can stand on their deck and shoot wild deer roaming in a private valley.

While Jason and Megan Wood opted for their ambitious project to stay off the TV, they did enlist the expert help of builder Clive Barrington who was well used to building elaborate homes.

But due to delays with the design and build, the Woods have spent more time planning and building their Tai Tapu home than they have lived in it, OneRoof reported.

They are now selling their labour of love at 4/82 Heaton Drive, Tai Tapu, which tested both their patience and budget, to be nearer to their teenage daughters’ school and activities in Christchurch.

The couple first fell in love with the 4.38ha bare section in a sun-lit valley-within-a-valley near Tai Tapu after the earthquakes in late 2010 and early 2011.

It was their second time building a home and they had set ideas about how they wanted the house to look. 

“I had always wanted to build something cool – I don’t know if I would ever do it again. The last house I built, it was a nice house but it wasn’t a dream house and this was,” Jason Wood told OneRoof.

To realise their ambitious vision of a chalet-inspired home with large windows and high ceilings in the foothills, they first enlisted the help of a draughtsman and then an architect.

But after several years and tens of thousands of dollars in fees, Wood said neither had been able to pull it off and they eventually found Stephen Fitzgerald, of SFA Studio, who spent two years completing the plans.

Wood said having three different people attempt the plans had been a large part of the delays and why the home which they had expected to take them three to four years to design and build ended up taking 10.

The actual build took just under three years and the family finally moved in just before the country went into lockdown in 2020.

Wood told OneRoof he couldn’t have been happier with the “phenomenal” build.

The result was a luxurious five-bedroom, three-bathroom home with a gourmet kitchen, top-floor master bedroom, guest suite and an upstairs living and library area. 

While the property ended up ticking every single one of their boxes and was meant to be their forever home, Wood told OneRoof the delays meant the home they had planned for their children to grow up in hadn’t been ready until they were almost teenagers.

“It’s a bittersweet thing to be selling and moving to be honest. We know we are giving up a lot, but both the kids go into town to school every day and they’ve only really known living out in Tai Tapu or on that piece of land. 

“They are chomping at the bit to get into town and I guess we are just doing it for family,” he said.

It was a home that would suit both families and downsizers who wanted enough room for family to stay, Wood said.

“You feel like you are away from it all. It’s amazing. At night you don’t see any light – it’s completely black. I always thought you would feel isolated, but you feel safe.”

The wildlife was “insane”, Wood said, adding that at certain times of the year, wild deer can be seen roaming the property.

“I shot three (deer) in one night just sitting on the deck.”

Bayleys agent Chris Jones told OneRoof it was a unique property and he hadn’t seen anything like it.

“It’s unusual in a great way. A lot of people just end up taking a normal home and making it a bit bigger and a bit fancier – this is something pretty unique.”

So far interest had come from expats in the US, people wanting to move from the CBD for more space and Aucklanders looking to relocate, Jones said.