Original subtitles

- I'm on a hunt to help find everyday Kiwis their perfect country house.

Things are a little different out here in the country.

You still have the hustle and bustle ―

your neighbours can sometimes be a bit noisy ―

time moves a little slower.

But you don't get this...

in the city.

www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2023

Today, I'm in Amberley with Graeme and Angela.

- We need room for the pool table. - Yeah.

- We need room for the table tennis table and the dart board.

- OK. - That's top priority.

- Yes. - Let's not forget the train set around the garden.

That's got to be― - Of course. - That's got to be in, as well.

- A games room is a top priority.

And Graeme's already got some ideas on how to scare away the neighbours.

And a bit of a bonus, the spa pool stays.

- Graeme'll get his mankini out for that one.

- Graeme's mankini? - The neighbours won't be able to see it.

- Graeme's mankini. - Yeah, well...

- So, wish me luck as I try to find Graeme and Angela their dream country home.

- My name is Graeme, and this is my wife, Angela.

Uh, we've been married, uh, approximately 40 years.

We have, um, three beautiful children and, um, four beautiful grandchildren.

- We want something a bit more physical. We're from a farm block.

Since we've moved to Christchurch, we've been living in suburbia.

That's been nice for the last 10 or 12 years, but we would like to go back to some country

and do some stuff where we're moving around and... doing stuff.

- Some outdoor living ― chopping firewood, trimming trees, that sort of thing,

will be good for our physical movements, as we enter into retirement age.

You go about your steampunk, first.

- OK, I like dressing up as steampunk and have a whole wardrobe― whole room, full of dress ups.

If I'm not doing that, I'm probably painting rocks.

I paint rocks with my grandkids and then we hide them all around town.

- Um, I'm into model railways. Um, I've... I've always had one.

I believe a railroad should be a toy, and the kids can play with it.

It doesn't matter if the― is a pink elephant or if the truck's bigger than the train.

But now that I'm getting older, I want a bit more detail.

I'd love to do an outdoors one, with a ride-on, that the kids can jump on the back and

we chug around a section or a garden area.

Our budgets are between about $1 million to 1.2.

It looks like that's the price range that's going to be able to get us the property that fits all―

- All of. - all criteria in― that we're after.

- The relaxed, rural town of Amberley is only a 45-minute drive from Christchurch.

It's primarily a service centre for local farms and winegrowers,

but it's also home to some of the area's best cafes and craft shops.

Graeme and Angela have really done well in choosing Amberley for their new lifestyle in the country.

Our first house is this breathtaking cottage style home,

with plenty of space for the family and for the horses.

Morena. Morning, Graeme. How are ya? - Good, thanks.

G'day, nice to meet ya. - Angela. - Hi.

- So great to meet you guys. How are you feeling today?

- Looking forward to see some houses. - Yeah, great.

Just a quick 45-minute trip from Christchurch for you this morning.

How was that? Easy? - Yeah, pretty easy.

- So, tell me a little bit about what you are wanting to do.

I know that there's a few considerations for this move,

not just for yourselves, right? - That's true.

- Moving in with our daughter. Daughter number two and her partner, Patty. Amanda and Patty.

And we're looking for something big enough for the both of us. - Right.

- Whether it be two separate places or one big place.

Essentials are ― room for a horse. We need room for the pool table.

We need room for the table tennis table and the dart board.

- OK. - That's top priority.

- Yes. - Let's not forget the train set around the garden.

That's got to be― That's got to be in as well.

- That sounds amazing. - I think that'll be a good little hobby for me to do,

as I get close to retirement.

- Now, tell me a little bit about how you two met. So, you're originally from Christchurch..?

Amanda..?

Hang on, there's a story here, isn't there?

- Oh, absolutely. - All right. Well, tell me, what's going on?

- When I was a young fella, I was one― a bit of a boy racer, you know,

had the souped up car and what have you.

And I was, I was driving down the, down the road and there's a couple of girls were hitchhiking

on the side of the road, so I stopped and picked Angela up, and uh...

- Still threatens to chuck me out of the car door, one day.

- And, uh, yeah, got married about two years later or so.

- That's a pretty successful hitchhike.

Yeah.

- Amazing. Well, congratulations.

All right, so somewhere with lots of room, space for the kids, the grandkids.

All right. I think we can do that.

The first place I brought you to pretty much ticks all those boxes.

Four hectares of land, so lots of space. We're about a five minute drive to Amberley township itself.

The home itself has been beautifully renovated just over the last couple of years,

so ― built in the 80s, but this place looks absolutely stunning.

- I'm actually pretty keen to get inside and have a look around the house.

- All right, well, on that note, let's get in there.

- Thank you. - After you.

OK. Welcome in to one of two really large living rooms.

So we've got lounge on this end of the house, a formal dining lounge on that end of the house,

kitchen in the middle. But it's been beautifully renovated.

This place has had a lot of love put into it.

Obviously, having an area for you and for Amanda and Patty to feel like they've got their ownspace,

having these two separate lounges, how would that work for you, do you think?

- I think that'll work pretty well. We could― One area could be watching the rugby game

while the other area is watching something else.

- Yeah. - Um, perhaps, you know, Country House Hunters, or something similar.

- I like your style. - Yeah. - Yeah, absolutely. Great show, that.

Right, let's head through to that kitchen.

You've got a beautiful view to Amberley Beach through here.

Have a look.

So, with those renovations completed so recently,

you've got yourselves a beautiful, brand new, country-style modern kitchen

with really high quality fittings.

Got a great stainless steel benchtop here, the gas hobs and the tiles as well.

But really it's the view, isn't it?

- It's the view. And to see the sunrise out here, I'm sure, is most spectacular,

because that's right where the sun will be.

- Who's going to be spending most of the time in the kitchen?

- That'll be Amanda. - Amanda's job?

- She's our gourmet cook. - I enjoy cooking, too.

I'm a bit of a gourmet seafood chef. - Are you now, Graeme?

- Yes. I love my seafood chowder and, uh, crayfish and, you know, all the local shellfish youcan gather.

- Sounds amazing. A seafood chef and another form of chef.

- Yeah. - You just get to reap the benefits. How about that?

- That's my plan. I'll grow the veggies.

- Yeah, great.

I'm going to send you guys up that beautiful kauri staircase, have a look at the bedrooms upstairs,

and I'm going to be out by the garage.

See you soon. - OK.

- What do you think of the bedrooms, Ange?

- I like the size of them, but I'm not too sure about the corners.

The pointed bits took away from the size.

I see that as a potential hazard, particularly for Patty that's taller.

It's nice to have an en suite, but I feel there was nowhere for me to put my lotions and potions

and... toothbrush, even, actually.

- I think this might be at the top end of our budget,

but let's go and find Matt and see what else he's got to show us.

- Yeah, OK.

- Hey hey. - Hey.

- Had a good chance to look around? - We have, yes. - We have.

- I wanted to talk to you about the garage.

So you can see there is a room upstairs, and there's also a toilet in the garage.

So depending on how you wanted to use it, this could be either a games room upstairs

or even an extra bedroom for, potentially, Amanda and Patty.

And plenty of space for a model train.

Well, not for a real train.

- Yeah, well, a ride-on external train would be a hoot.

- Yeah. - But an internal model train, also, you know, with all the detail.

- What are we thinking the value of this home would be?

- Over a mil? Less than one point― less than 1.3?

So, somewhere between there. - Yeah, around 1.2. - Yeah.

You definitely― You know your market. 1.25 is where they're thinking this one sits, at the moment.

Obviously, open to negotiation.

- I think being at the top end of the budget is just something we're going to have to talk to

our daughter and fiance about, and see if we can, uh...

- See what else we've got to look at, as well. - Yes.

- Let's head to house number two, shall we?

- Good. - Come on.

After the break, it's off to house number two,

which I'm thinking could win them over with its really impressive garden.

Welcome back. I'm in Amberley, helping Graeme and Angela find their dream country home.

The first house was an incredible, newly-renovated property, with gorgeous views from the kitchen

and enough space for family, horses, and even a train set for Graeme.

I've got my hopes up for house two, though, with a gorgeous garden and separate shed,

with enough space for a games room.

But, let's see what our couple think.

OK, here's our second option for the day.

This one sits on just under 6300m2.

What do you think of this property, as you walk up to it?

- The gardens appear park like, and I could see Angela getting lost out there for days onend.

I would have to get that train set, outdoor train set, go and find her and pick her up.

- Should we take a look around? - Yes.

173 So, nice, big, open-plan kitchen, living, dining area here.

And we do have a separate living room just off to the left.

That opens out nicely onto a courtyard

and ― bit of a bonus ― the spa pool stays.

- Graeme will get his mankini out for that one.

- Graeme's mankini? - The neighbours won't be able to see it.

- Graeme's mankini. - Yeah, well,

you got to do what you got to do, you know? Especially on these cold days, in a nice warm spa pool.

I love the idea of this being a communal family room,

with the lounge being adjacent, that could actually open up.

- I do like the doors, too, that open out. A bit of indoor-outdoor flow.

- I reckon this place has the perfect games room already set up.

So let's go and have a look. - OK.

So, this was a double garage that they've converted to an extra living area, at the moment.

But all I'm seeing in here is a table tennis table and a pool table.

What do you reckon?

- I can imagine the pool table. Probably put in a little bit more lighting for over the pooltable

and some curtains, and we've got a toilet just behind us, so, yes.

- Put a bar in the corner, do you reckon, Graeme?

Yeah. There's potential.

So much more to see in this house. So, go and have a good explore, and find me when you're done.

- OK, thank you. - We'll catch up soon.

- I like it here.

I could imagine having a little― just a little table and chairs out there,

sitting, having a morning coffee just outside the bedroom window in the garden, listening tothe birds.

- I do feel the rooms are a tad on the small side.

You know, the wardrobes are a good size.

Having the walk-in wardrobe in the master room, plus an en suite.

This area could be a relaxation and separate area from the family, if needed, you know.

- Yep.

- Do you guys host family Christmases?

You get all your family and friends around for the big gathering?

- We often do. We alternate between our place and perhaps our daughter's place.

But yes, there's often quite a few of us.

And for all our friends that don't have family around― come around. - Great.

- So we often have quite a few people.

- 'Cause I'm just looking at this― - Christmas.

- On a summer's day in Canterbury, a hot Canterbury Christmas.

Imagine all your friends and family spilling out into that huge backyard.

- I could see the badminton net up― - Yeah. - playing badminton.

- Great area to socialise and, uh, and the spa pool, I could just see myself in there,

in my mankini―

doing the belly flop off the side.

- It'll be― It'll be good. - That is an image I'm not going to get out of my head

for the rest of the day, Graeme. - That's it.

But I think the entertainment area, externally, is fantastic here.

And the gardens and lawn sections are beautiful.

- All right. So, let's talk price.

- 1.123? Something like that?

- Guys, you're pretty close.

1.149. - It's within our, um, expected price range.

But the downfall is the fact that there's no area for a horse or other animals.

And that's something we'd have to look in―

perhaps a nearby farmer would be able to lease, um, a paddock for us

to have a horse in, and tick that box.

- All right. Well, we've done pretty well so far. Two great properties.

One more to show you. So let's head off to that one.

- Fantastic, thanks. - Excellent.

- Coming up ― I catch up with our couple for a game of pool, and to find out which house they've chosen.

Did one of them take your fancy? Are we going to put an offer in on any of the houses?

- Well, look, I actually liked option number one, but I think Angela liked option number three.

- While in Amberley, I thought I'd visit Waipara Hills Winery

and talk with Marie to learn more about this beautiful place.

Nice to be here at Waipara Hills. This place is a real highlight of the Hurunui District, isn'tit?

- Correct. We're in Waipara Hills, in Waipara,

just in the heart of the Hurunui District.

But this is an iconic building, but an iconic venue,

and really is just a great showcase for the Hurunui District.

- Yeah. You guys are a big producer of wine these days, aren't you?

- Yeah, we are, actually.

I think we've got about 99 vineyards and 68, I think it is, wineries, you know.

So, food and beverage is quite a showcase of our community and something that

we're pretty proud of, to be fair. - So, it's a bit of a destination for people, not just from Christchurch,

but for people from all around the country come here. - Absolutely.

You know, the wine region of the Hurunui actually has received national and internationalacclaim.

So, you know, we're well― we're well supported.

And, you know, it's great to have them here, home, in Hurunui.

- Location-wise, you're only 45 minutes drive to Christchurch,

the largest city in the South Island, so what an easy place to live.

- We really are blessed, from a location perspective,

and to be... That 45 minutes, it's a magic drive, but actually, once you get there,

you get the wineries, you get the Hanmer Springs,

a little bit further away, you get the beach, you get the snow-capped mountains, you get everything.

- And what do you need? - Exactly. - Maybe a glass of wine.

A glass or two of wine would be amazing right now,

but I've got to get back to our house hunt with Graeme and Angela.

Here we are ― third and final home for the day. This one... It's like a cabin in the woods.

Obviously, we came up through that driveway, just nestled in the bush, there.

- That was amazing. I actually thought we were going on a bush adventure, as we came down there.

- A lot of work on the upkeep, which is why the current owners are thinking of letting it go, so...

- Then I'm sure Angela will knock that into shape.

- You're handing that over to the gardening department, Angela. - Absolutely.

- Welcome in. What's the first thing you noticed when you walked in here?

- How warm it is. - Yeah, it's really warm.

We got that― Obviously, the wood burner is cranking on a day like today.

That's a wetback as well, so, good for power bills.

Uh, this kitchen, beautiful. Really open, large space.

I mean, you were saying that you didn't want too many people working in the kitchen,

you could all fit around that one. - Yes. - Got that nice island in the middle.

- Yeah. - Like that.

Needs a bit of an update, but I could― I could see it would make a nice centre for the family

and for everybody, and passing things over.

- Just imagine the bustle― the bustle on Christmas Day. - Yes.

- Everyone doing their tasks. - Yeah, exactly. - Plenty of room. Yes.

- Right. So that's the kitchen and the dining. There are two separate living areas.

- So let's head through and look at them. - Sure.

- All right. So, obviously, we just passed through living room one into a really large livingspace,

this one. Really high ceilings, that skillion style roof with exposed timber beams.

It's just a huge space, really. You could do anything with it.

But, obviously, knowing what you're looking for...

look at the size of a pool table you can fit in there. - Mm.

- It's nice to think, actually, of having a pool table inside the house.

- Yeah. - Most of what we've thought of is like, we want a shed,

we want a back room, we want somewhere.

But to have the main entertainment area as actually part of the house. - All right.

So, all five bedrooms are up the hallway that side of the house.

So go and have a good look around and I'll see you afterwards.

- Thank you, cheers.

- So, this could be like, the main lounge/living area.

- It's quite good that there's five bedrooms and you know, a en suite on the end one.

The master bedroom has been added on at some stage, over and above the original.

But as has the other entertainment rooms.

- So, obviously, we've been talking about what Amanda needs in a property.

She's not here. So you've got your Amanda hats on right now.

- Sure. - And you look around. The horses are a big part of it.

Need some space. There is a shed on this property that looks, to me, perfect for horses.

What do you think? - I think I could see that fitting the bill.

That's got plenty of room for horse stuff.

It's got plenty of room for some of your workshop stuff. - Yes.

- So, the price.

That's the only other thing we need to discuss.

You've got an idea of where it sits, haven't you?

- We were thinking between 700 and 800, is about where it's sitting.

- Inquiries over 749. That's what we're looking at.

So as you know, that's well under your budget.

- Um, certainly needs a bit of maintenance and updating,

but that's within our skill range, anyway.

- Three options for you to go away and have a think about.

And if one of them's taking your fancy, we'll get back together and you can let me know.

But thanks anyway. What a great day that was. - Yeah, we've had a great day too.

Thank you very much.

Let's recap our three options ―

house one was a country style villa with plenty of space

and spectacular views.

House two was more suburban, but with a breathtaking garden.

And house three was a hidden gem, but needed some work.

After giving Graeme and Angela some time to think,

we caught up for a game of pool to see what they made of the three homes we toured.

Hey, look, we can't just keep playing pool all night.

We have got business to attend to.

We've got to find out what decision you guys have made.

So we did look at three really great houses.

I'm not sure which one you'd go for, if I had to pick, so let's talk through them.

The first place we looked at was that big, beautiful,

kind of old country villa.

- Wonderful views out the kitchen window.

That was most spectacular.

- Yeah, a huge staircase in the middle, as well. Yeah.

- That kauri staircase was just amazing.

- Yeah.

- Uh, I think the farmland and the area for the horses and― - Nice gardens.

- other animals was very positive for that, uh, for that property.

- And of course, the second property we looked at ― a lot to like about that one.

Huge garden area, really beautifully manicured garden, wasn't it? - Oh, it was a park.

That was a park. - Those park-like gardens.

I could― I could so see my outdoor train set uh, chugging around

those gardens. - 100%.

- That also had a beautiful games room in the garage

that could be converted into just exactly what we're after.

- And that barn shed out the back, that was really nice, too.

That had a lot of potential for a number of things.

- And, of course, it came with the spa pool.

- Oh, yes. - So the mankini was going to get a work out.

- Exactly. - Yeah, yeah.

- And then the third home that we looked at, set right amongst the bush.

You know? That driveway, you're going through, completely private,

really tranquil. Lovely little home, that one.

- I loved that entranceway.

It made it feel like the cottage was surrounded by the, you know,

native bush and natural settings.

- Lots of little paths through it that were little adventures.

- So, three interesting houses. But did one of them take your fancy?

Are we going to put an offer in on any of the houses?

- Well, look, I actually liked option number one, but I think Angela liked option number three.

We're not going to put an offer in, at this stage.

I think we'll just continue to look ― - OK.

- and see if we can't find one that caters for all our needs.

- But the right place will come along. I'm sure it will. - I'm sure it will.

- And you two were a lot of fun to work with as well, so thanks for making it a fun experience.

- Thank you. - And, uh, I think it's your shot.

Unfortunately, Graeme and Angela weren't able to settle on something, but still,

I had an amazing time with them in Amberley and I wish them both well

as they continue their search for their perfect country home.

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