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.

Today we're house hunting with our laidback Kiwi couple, Lauren and Westie.

They're making the move to Marlborough, where they'll expand their earthmoving business

When it comes to a house, they're not too picky,

as long as it's got separate lounges and a big backyard space for them to unleash their landscapingcreativity,

and I'll be moving heaven and earth to help them enter their dream home.

Today we're house hunting around Blenheim with Lauren and Westie.

Our recently wed couple are moving to Blenheim for work, the weather

and to satisfy their love for the great outdoors.

- I'd definitely get some animals here. Yeah, get some sheep and some cows,

and Lauren wants a couple of goats and a donkey and a giraffe.

- So join me as I try to find our couple their dream home.

- Work took me down to Christchurch, and that's where I met Lauren.

I met the city girl and brought her back to the country.

The weather's a big part of what drew us to Marlborough. - Yeah, the climate,

definitely the climate, and we've both lived in colder climates, so pretty keen to feel the warmth.

- We'll give the country living a bit of a go, especially with the space for the dogs, and...

- No neighbours. - ...no neighbours, nudist beaches.

Just kidding, just kidding.

- What we're looking for in a house would be definitely his and hers lounge, if we can get away with it,

a modern kitchen, definitely need the kitchen... - Yeah, definitely.

En suite. - ...and three or four bedrooms.

That's to hopefully get them filled with some little rugrats.

- Trying to start a family, so hopefully... - Yeah.

- ...a nice property in the country will be good.

- Yeah, plenty of space for them to run around too, you know, get my motorbikes,

and, yeah, it'll be good.

- The budget would be 1.4. - 1.4, yeah. We'll probably stretch to that for the right property.

- Blenheim is situated in the heart of the winegrowing Marlborough region,

at the top of Te Waipounamu New Zealand's South Island.

The town is easily recognisable with its 16m-high war memorial.

It's also tipped to be the sunniest region in Aotearoa New Zealand,

but today unfortunately is not one of those days.

Established in the 1850s, the town offers an array of restaurants,

cafes and shops, not to mention gorgeous parks and gardens.

Blenheim's population currently sits at around 28,000 inhabitants,

but let's see if we can add two more to that tally.

The first house is a rural four-bedroom property built in 2006 with country views and four bedrooms.

Let's see what Lauren and Westie think of our first contender.

Here they are. Kia ora, Lauren. How are you going? - Good. How are you?

- Gidday, Westie. - Hello, Matt.

- Great to meet you guys, finally. It's awesome to have you here in Marlborough on a wet Marlborough Day.

There's normally a lot of sunshine here, isn't there? - There usually is, yeah, yeah.

- So, I love your stories. You were struggling to kind of meet the love of your life, weren'tyou?

- Yeah, yeah, definitely, and didn't have time to get out and about.

- So what did you do? - Went to Tinder, yep.

Then who should pop up? Lauren.

- Yeah, straight away too, Matt, yeah, yeah.

- So that was a few years ago now; you guys have been married for two years...

- Yeah. - ...looking for a home in Marlborough.

- Yeah. - Three bedrooms minimum, right? - Yeah.

We need an en suite, don't we, with a walk-in wardrobe, maybe two separate lounges.

- Oh yeah, yeah. - A decent sized-kitchen that we'll probably never use, but...

...it's just for show, maybe.

- Lauren, what's the thought behind the two separate lounges?

- So, if he has people over and then if I have my family over.

- We have different tastes when it comes to watching TV as well,

so no fights over the remote that way.

- All right, well, why don't we talk about the first home that I've decided to bring youto.

It's a really private, spacious, rural lifestyle that you'd get living here.

You've got views on a good day. You've got schools in the area,

you've got a local pub, a golf course, all sorts of things that you need right here.

And hunting and fishing, that's something you're into

as well, isn't it? - When I get time.

- You into nude golf? - Oh yeah. No, I definitely go there

- Because there's a nudist colony right next door to the golf course, and apparently, you're allowed on.

Could be a whole change of lifestyle here, couldn't it?

- Yeah. I don't know about today, though.

- So the house itself, it's a four-bedroom home sitting on about 3ha.

So lots of land for you guys to put your spin on.

Especially being an earthmover, you'd be able to make some improvements out here,

but it's an established home, built in 2006, so it's a nice family home.

Should we get inside and take a look around? - Definitely, yeah.

- Come on in.

Welcome in. This is the lounge area. Obviously, it's a big spacious lounge,

lots of natural light filtering in through those windows,

and the separate lounge ― I know you're interested in that ― is just out to the right there.

What would you do to this space, do you reckon?

- I think there's no real entertainment area. - I think it's quite nice.

It's nice and big and views throughout.

- It'd be nice here in the winter, though, with that fire growing up.

- Yeah, that wood burner definitely would be great in the winter around here.

That lounge right there, would that be too close to this lounge for you, or would that work, do you reckon?

- Oh, it may clash a little bit. - Yeah? - Yeah, Lauren's big sound bar.

- So the party's happening in here, you're trying to get some peace and quiet in there,

a little bit too close, do you reckon? I'm sure we could chuck a wall in between or something, eh?

Yeah, an insulated wall.

- Well, the kitchen's just through to our left, so should we go through there and check itout?

OK, so the home was built in 2006, but obviously, the kitchen's had a good update,

got your nice marble benchtops, butler's sink, butler's pantry.

It's a smallish space, but would this be enough for you guys to work in, do you think?

- It'd have to be modified, I think. - We'd probably wanna open it up a bit.

- Yeah. - Yeah.

- The sun'd be quite nice in the evening, though.

We're facing west this wa, so as that sun's setting, you'd get that light coming through the windows there.

- Yeah, the kitchen view's not too bad.

- Yeah, it's a nice kitchen, isn't it?

- OK, so I'm hearing there's potential. That's good. - Potential, yeah.

- All right, well, now's the time for us to split up.

Check out the rest of the house, and we'll catch up soon. - Righto, no worries, see youthen.

- Oh, wow. Look at that view. - Yeah, that's a good view for the master bedroom.

- I really like how it's got the his and hers walk-in wardrobes and an en suite.

- Yeah, that is good.

- So what do you think about this property.

- Yeah, I do like the lounge ― lounge's a nice size ― and the landscape itself.

- Yeah, I think this house could be up there.

I think we need to factor in all of the renovations that we'll want to do to make it ourhome,

but I definitely think it's doable. - Yeah, definitely enough space in there for us and our future plans.

Should we go and discuss things with Matt downstairs? - Yeah, nice.

- Righto, let's do it.

- Hey. I just found this nice little kind of courtyard patio area.

This could be a nice little area for friends coming around. - Yeah.

- Yeah, it's definitely move-in ready.

- It's a great area, I think for a young couple maybe looking to expand in the near future.

I mean, the school's close by. - 10-year project, Matt.

- Something you're interested in Lauren? - Maybe.

Putting you on the spot here.

The next thing we need to talk about, though, is how much this place is worth.

- Yeah, with the size of the land in the area, I'm picking around the middle.

- 3ha, so decent-sized property, so that does bring it up a little bit. So you're looking at about 1.2.

- Yeah. - So within budget. - Yeah.

- We still have to consider what we want to do to the place to make it ours.

- So it might need a little bit of work done? - Maybe a stretch.

- Yeah, OK. Right. That's just the first option, though.

We've got two more lined up for you. So should we head out to house number two?

- Yeah, definitely. - Let's do it.

- It's got a unique design to it, location's good, it's nice and quiet, close to the hills,

good 360-degree view, I think. I'd definitely get some animals here.

Yeah, get some sheep and some cows, and Lauren wants a couple of goats and a donkey and a giraffe.

I'd probably have a crop paddock as well and have a self-sufficient little farm, I think.

- Up next ― we visit a unique house built next to Mt Riley...

- The landscaping is already done. - Love the landscaping here.

- ...and later we visit an entertainer's delight set over 2ha.

- I'm in the gorgeous Marlborough region, helping Lauren and Westie find their perfect new home.

First up, we toured a family home set over 3ha,

but now, time for a bit of a wild card. Let's see what Lauren and Westie think of this one.

All right. So our second option here right next to Mt Riley in this beautiful valley.

It's a four-bedroom home built just over 20 years ago.

It's not just the home that you're buying here; it's this beautiful lifestyle that would come with it.

So there's 15 acres. - Plenty of room. - Yeah.

What does it say to you? - It's definitely Lauren's colour.

- Is that right, Lauren? - Yeah, yeah, it must be.

- A splash of paint, and I think, yeah.

- You'd change the colour of the house?

- Yeah, I think I might change it a little bit, yeah.

- But, yeah, for you as well, obviously being a hunter... - Oh yeah.

- ...on your doorstep, you got great hunting right there in the hills.

- It's right there, yeah. Nah, it'd be good.

- Could be a really interesting option for a young family, I reckon. - Yeah.

- Should we stop looking at it and start getting into it? - Have a look inside, definitely.

- OK, first thing you notice when you walk into this room

is that beautiful huge picture window looking out into the hills.

You could probably sit on the couch in the evening and see if you can

spot some deer to go and shoot the next day ― what do you reckon, Westie?

- Yeah, definitely. It's the first thing you look at.

- And a really warm, cosy feel with that wood burner that's going to be nice and cosy in winter.

- Yeah, definitely. Yeah.

- The room itself, it's a nice open-plan lounge.

You've got a modern kitchen, decent-sized kitchen island there as well.

I like the macrocarpa doors with those old fence standards for the handles.

It's a nice touch. - It's a rustic sort of look, pretty crafty, I think.

- Yeah. And these stones that we're standing on right now, these are from the riverbed just outside,

so just been brought up.

Main bedroom is just off to your right there. There's three other bedrooms on that side of thehouse.

Can you see yourself in here, Lauren? What do you reckon?

- Yeah, I think so, definitely with the rocking horse there. Yeah.

Get Westie on there in the evenings, bit of entertainment for you.

- Yeah, giddy up. - Yeah.

So how does the house feel to you now that you've just walked in? - I like this space.

- A lot more open than the first house that we looked at in terms of the layout.

That's more your style? - Yeah. - Kitchen right here,

and you've got a view for whoever's in the kitchen.

- Yeah, you could almost be spotting him when he's hunting as well.

You could be sitting on the couch looking up to the hills, seeing him carry some deer out ofthere.

Hopefully.

Right. Time for you guys to have a look around, main bedroom's that way. I'll be outside when you're done.

- Excellent. - All right, thank you.

- What do you think of the master? - It's a little bit small, but it's got nice French doors.

There's a hot tub, and it's got the en suite, and I wanted an en suite. - It's definitely a quirky house.

- Yeah, but then there's the outside, which is quite good for entertaining,

and you can just go for a walk, go for a hunt. - Definitely easy access to hunting.

I think the size of land would be reflective of the price, but―

- There's so much land, but then the house is small.

- And I don't think we'd have to do anything to the house anyway in general, not for a start.

We'll go and find Matt, eh, and kick him off the hot tub.

- It's a really interesting house, eh? - Yeah, very interesting, yeah.

- But it really comes into its own when you get out here, I reckon, into the backyard.

Look at that scenery right from your back step. - Yeah, it's magic.

- There's a vege garden already in, there's an orchard.

So many native birds ― the kereru, the tui flying around, chickens.

Oh, you can hear something's making some noise out there at the moment.

- Excellent.

- A lot of work's been put into the garden around here.

I mean, I love the topiaries ― do you call those topiaries? Is that what that is?

You know, the hedge thing? - The plant? - Yeah, that thing.

There's heaps of those everywhere, the shaped bush thing.

A lot of work has been done to the gardens, though ― would you be there working on that?

- I think so, a bit of fishing in the pond.

- Is this the sort of property that you can see yourselves living on at the moment?

- Yeah, I quite like this property. - I think I could definitely be enjoying the outdoors.

- So, price, what do you think it's worth?

- 1.2, maybe.

- I'm thinking 1, 1.1.

There's a bit of land with it, though. - Yeah, 15 acres of land.

Lauren's right on this one ― 1.2, we're looking at around that. - Oh yeah.

- So does it change your mind in any way?

I know your budget was around the 1.4 mark, so you'd have a little bit of money to spend on something else.

- Definitely something to consider.

- While you're thinking about it, let's move on to our next property, eh?

- Excellent.

It's definitely unique.

Yeah, the colour being pink is probably not really my colour. - It's not pink; it's terracotta.

- I think it's more pink than anything.

- Up next ― I visit the intriguing Spy Valley Winery to sample the delicious range

and learn a little bit about what makes the winery and this region so unique,

and then we visit this character house, which boasts plenty of living spaces.

The Marlborough region is renowned for its first-in-class wineries,

so I jumped at the chance to visit the Spy Valley Winery and speak to Amanda

about their family-run business, which has a focus on sustainability.

Kia ora, Amanda. - Hey, Matt, how are you doing? - Really well, thank you.

Nice to meet you. - Lovely to meet you and welcome to Spy Valley.

- Well, Amanda, I hear congratulations are in order.

We've got 30 years of celebrating Spy Valley this year. - Thank you very much.

We've been one of the first pioneers in the Waihopai Valley here.

30 years ago, the first vines went in, 20 years this year as well for the completion of thewinery.

So we're super proud of that.

- And it's a family business as well, isn't it?

You're the daughter of the original owners of Spy Valley. - I am indeed, yeah.

We're now three generations in ― plenty of them have been working in the vineyard and winery.

- Nice.

- Here at Spy Valley, we have seven different varietals, from vine to making the wine,

and we also bottle onsite. - One-stop shop. - Yeah.

- Amanda, the name Spy Valley, there's got to be a story behind that, right?

- Well, we have a spy base up the road, so that's a little bit unique.

So we wanted to make quality wines, but have fun with our brand name.

And we have Morse code on our wine bottles and on the winery

and a lot of James Bond theme through the winery.

- I love that. It's something a bit different, a bit fun.

This region must just have something in the soil.

What's going on that makes it so beautiful for wine? - The climate is fantastic.

We get some of the highest sunshine hours in the country.

We have dry alluvial soils here on the river terraces,

and we're sheltered between two mountain ranges, so it makes unique. - Makes for good wine.

Sustainability I know as a focus for you as a business as well, isn't it?

- We do a lot of initiatives here ― we have solar panels,

we run sheep through the vineyard instead of lawn mowers, we use recycled glass.

So there's lots of things going on. We wanna look after the land that creates this exceptional wine.

- Well, I'm sure that people are gonna be enjoying your wine for generations to come,

and speaking of enjoying your wine... - Time for a glass. - I think so.

Brilliant.

So, let's introduce Lauren and Westie to our final property,

which I'm secretly confident they're going to love.

All righty, Lauren, Westie, the third and final house.

We are a little bit further out, but when you see inside this house and out the back,

I think you're going to be pretty happy with what I found for you.

We've got a four-bedroom home, it's a character home,

three bathrooms, sitting on 2ha ― what are we thinking so far?

- Yeah, I really like it. I think it's good.

- It has been updated recently, so I can tell you the kitchen is a designer kitchen. It's brand new.

- Yeah.

- Well, I reckon you're going to enjoy this one. so let's get inside. - Excellent, righty-ho.

- So in terms of your must-haves, honestly, I reckon this house ticks all your boxes.

You're wanting separate lounges. This place is basically got his and hers lounges ―

this one right at the front of the house with lots of light coming through, really high ceilings.

- Yeah, I think this one is definitely a Lauren lounge.

The Lauren lounge, I like that.

And don't you worry, mate. The Westie lounge there as well.

- Is it gonna top this lounge? - Well, you've got more of a kind of a den style, I reckon,

the other one. - Yeah. - So, yeah.

- Yeah, I'll get locked in there. - Yeah.

- Should we take a look at the rest of the house? - Definitely.

- Head through.

So, this is a designer kitchen, huge 4m-long breakfast bench right in the centre there

with built-in chopping board. - Yeah, excellent.

- I've never seen something like that before.

Everything in here is a high-spec, high-end appliance as well.

You've got the eight-hob induction cooker, but also right behind you there, a built-in coffee machine.

That's a pretty nice touch. - That is a bonus.

- And the owner who did the renovations was an electrician,

so you're never going to be searching for a power outlet.

- I'd spend a lot of time in here by myself, I would.

Would you? Cos I haven't seen that before.

Well, there's heaps more to see, so I'm going to get out of your hair. Have a good look around the house,

and I'll be outside with a couple more surprises for you.

- Excellent. - See you then. - See you.

- Nice. This is a nice guest bedroom. - Decent size.

- What do you think about the rest of the house? - I like it.

- Yeah, I really like that master bedroom.

It's got the en suite, the walk-in wardrobe.

- Yeah, there's plenty of room in that wardrobe for the both of us. No, there's not.

- So, price? It's a whole lot of house.

It's probably going to stretch us a fair bit, I'd say, by the looks of it.

I'm thinking it's going to be 1.3 to 1.4.

- Yeah, should we go find out? - We'll go and find Matt.

- I think you've probably seen my surprise as you walked out... - Yeah.

- Solar-powered, heated swimming pool. I'm gonna chuck on a tennis court for you as well

just because I'm a nice guy. - Yeah, not bad.

What do you reckon ― entertainer's dream out here? - It is, yeah.

- Plus, you've got about 25 established fruit trees.

So it's a pretty amazing place, not just inside but outside as well. - Yeah, I'm impressed with it.

- Yeah, It's definitely ticking some boxes. - Yeah?

What do you think the price might be for this house?

- I'm thinking, uh... - Maybe...

- ...1.3 and a half to 1.4.

- This is about that. They're asking for 1.4.

I think there might be some room for negotiation on that, but it's that kind of a ballpark.

So you'd be using all of your budget...

- Yeah. - Yeah.

- ...but you be getting a lot of house for that. - Yeah.

We could possibly make that work.

- Well, lots to think about. - Yeah.

- I mean, three houses, all of them completely different from each other,

but hopefully one of them has taken your fancy,

and we'll find out when we get back together again in a couple of weeks whether you've made a decision.

- So for the inside, I, um... I'm pretty keen on the his and her lounge rooms.

That's what we've wanted as well, definitely what you've wanted.

- Do not like hanging out with your wife?

- It's more your.... It's more your programmes I don't like hanging out with, what you watch,

but I, uh... Yeah, I will enjoy them having my own lounge, that's for sure.

- Lauren and Westie have had some time to consider the three properties we visited around Blenheim,

so I'm really keen to hear if they've found their ideal home.

Westie, Lauren, kia ora. How are you going?

I got the bubbles out because I reckon there might be cause for celebration.

So before we get to that, let's just recap the houses that we looked at.

The first one we looked at had that big open-plan lounge.

What did you think of that first home?

- The lounge was a nice size. - Yeah, there's a little bit of work to do on the inside forus, eh?

- But we were off to a pretty good start with that home. - Yeah.

- And then the second home we looked at that Mediterranean villa style, that was an interestingone, eh?

You loved the colour of that house, didn't you, Westie? - Oh, the colour.

And we did like that house. - Yeah. - That was very cool.

- I can see you up in the hills. - Getting away up there hunting.

- The third home?

- It, uh... - It ticked a lot of boxes, that one.

- It hit the spot, really, that third one.

- Tennis court, swimming pool... - Yeah. - ...hot tub, separate lounges.

Yeah. - The kitchen. - Good section.

- Yeah, so everything we wanted really come to in their third home.

- So, look, I've got a funny feeling I know which way you might be going

with this decision. - Yeah.

- Tell me which one have you decided to put an offer in on?

- On the third house. - The third house? - Yeah.

- And you know what? I hear you've done more than just put an offer in. - It's been accepted.

- Yeah. - That is incredible news, guys.

- So you're moving in? - We are.

- Number three is now yours. - Yeah, it is.

- I can see you guys having a lot of fun there.

Congratulations, guys. Thank you for making that such a great experience.

Thanks, Matt. - Cheers. - Good on ya.

- So, fantastic result.

Lauren and Westie put an offer on house number three, and I am thrilled to say it's been accepted.

Well done to you both. I wish you the very best for your life to come here in Blenheim.

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