{"id":26392,"date":"2025-09-16T19:49:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T19:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/26392\/"},"modified":"2025-09-16T19:49:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T19:49:12","slug":"help-i-bought-a-castle-and-i-didnt-tell-my-wife-all-things-property-under-oneroof","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/26392\/","title":{"rendered":"Help, I bought a castle and I didn&#8217;t tell my wife, All things property, under OneRoof"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8211; Brooke McKenzie bought the &#8220;castle&#8221; at 602 Yaldhurst Road without initially telling his wife.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; The property includes a main home and a converted barn, totalling twelve bedrooms.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Bayleys agent Chris Jones sees potential buyers for lifestyle, business, or industrial development purposes.<\/p>\n<p>When businessman Brooke McKenzie first saw the &#8220;castle&#8221; at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oneroof.co.nz\/property\/canterbury\/yaldhurst\/602-yaldhurst-road\/TGPfE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">602 Yaldhurst Road<\/a> over 40 years ago, he knew he had to buy it. And he did; he just failed to tell his wife.  <\/p>\n<p>When she found out about the eye-catching home, she hit the roof.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI used to travel up and down the country quite a bit, and I saw the house being built,\u201d Brooke told OneRoof. \u201cIt was designed by Tom Taylor, who was a sculptor and a professor of architecture at Canterbury University. I think it was his dream to design something like this. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I kept coming around to see [Taylor and the builders] and thought, \u2018I want this house\u2019. I just loved it. It was unique. I came back several times and increased my offer to the point where I said it was my last offer. And it was accepted. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"An eye-catching home at 602 Yaldhurst Road, in Yaldhurst, Christchurch, is attracting strong buyer interest. Photo \/ Supplied\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/7714d1ceff32625b8df80ce890803c2a.jpg\" style=\"max-width: 100%;\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"image-caption\">The unusual-looking property was designed by renowned Christchurch sculptor and architect Tom Taylor. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"An eye-catching home at 602 Yaldhurst Road, in Yaldhurst, Christchurch, is attracting strong buyer interest. Photo \/ Supplied\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/c168c01313556d8f8fbcb236e4f47d2e.jpg\" style=\"max-width: 100%;\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"image-caption\">The house has hosted countless parties and is up for grabs for the first time in more than 40 years. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI bought the house and then it took me a couple of weeks before I had the courage to tell my wife Lesley I&#8217;d bought it. We had a beautiful home on Fendalton Road, and she wasn&#8217;t very happy with me. But I talked her into coming out here for a year. I bought it half finished and then completed it and did extensions.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>The McKenzies also converted the barn on the 4.33ha site into a seven-bedroom accommodation unit, dubbed Spires Barn Lodge. It has been popular with sports groups, horse riders, and a wide range of other visitors. The entire property how has 12 bedrooms between the main home and barn.  <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe&#8217;ve had FBI agents here, and Ghost Hunters International. We even featured in a Bollywood film,\u201d Brooke told OneRoof. <\/p>\n<p>Daughter Brigette added that her mother ran fundraising events at the property, political party get-togethers, and provided free accommodation to families in need after the Christchurch and Kaik\u014dura earthquakes. <\/p>\n<p>Discover more:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.oneroof.co.nz\/news\/48184\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">&#8211; NZ&#8217;s tiniest English pub for sale &#8211; comes with world-famous gardens<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.oneroof.co.nz\/news\/48175\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">&#8211; Hamish McKay: &#8216;Getting an interview with Richie McCaw is like listing a house&#8217;<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.oneroof.co.nz\/news\/48133\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">&#8211; Developer spares award-winning trophy home &#8211; \u2018far too good to remove\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt has been the most wonderful, happy family home that anyone could ever have,\u201d Brooke said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe&#8217;d have a party planned for 50 and there&#8217;d be 500 coming through,\u201d said Brooke. \u201cIt was pretty full on.\u201d They even had to call the police once. <\/p>\n<p>Brooke, who employed \u201cburley bikers\u201d on his construction sites, roped them in to police the house parties from then on. \u201cThey were pretty rugged, but they were good guys,\u201d he said. \u201cThey used to labour for me on different sites, so I\u2019d give them a ring and say \u2018I need some security\u2019.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Sadly, Brooke lost his wife a year ago and his youngest daughter to cancer three months ago, and has decided it\u2019s time for his next chapter. Once the home is sold, the 78-year-old is taking an extended break on the Gold Coast to think about what his next chapter in New Zealand will be. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"An eye-catching home at 602 Yaldhurst Road, in Yaldhurst, Christchurch, is attracting strong buyer interest. Photo \/ Supplied\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/25503dff24ae0235588a3a4e0229ebfa.jpg\" style=\"max-width: 100%;\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"image-caption\">The property comes with a seven-bedroom accommodation unit, dubbed Spires Barn Lodge. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"An eye-catching home at 602 Yaldhurst Road, in Yaldhurst, Christchurch, is attracting strong buyer interest. Photo \/ Supplied\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/3744a8d5362a29a9cd531b6cd2959b7d.jpg\" style=\"max-width: 100%;\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"image-caption\">The gardens were the pride and joy of the vendor&#8217;s late wife. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n<p>Brigette and her sister Amy told OneRoof that their mum transformed the grounds and created an exquisite garden. \u201cThat was mum\u2019s pride and joy,\u201d Brigette said. &#8220;Mum actually planted every tree, bush, and rose. It was paddocks when we moved out here.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>She added: \u201cGrowing up, we had the luxury of horses and ponies. Kids came out to ride.\u201d  <\/p>\n<p>Bayleys agent Chris Jones, who is marketing the property, told OneRoof that he could see three distinct buyer types interested in the property. <\/p>\n<p>Buyer A was looking for a lifestyle property, he said. &#8220;You might just find someone who&#8217;s moving to Canterbury or sold their farm and has kids with horses, and they want an unbelievable property. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cBuyer B is someone who runs a business that hosts conferences and weddings, or wants an accommodation business. I could see someone using it as their business base. It has easy access to the north, south and west. You go out the gate and turn right to go to the west coast, you connect to the new motorway to go south, and you go around the back of the airport to the northern motorway. In terms of access to all those different routes, it doesn\u2019t get any better. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe third buyer type is a bit harder, but it&#8217;s no secret that a lot of commercial and industrial developers are going through rezoning processes in that area.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>With Buyer A or B, the house would survive. It might not with the third type of buyer, Jones said. \u201cIt would be a real shame to see it go.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>He added: \u201cWe&#8217;ve had interest from locals. We&#8217;ve had people in Auckland make enquiries. We also have a database of buyers looking for some sort of work and home property. We sold one around the corner on Buchanans Road that was purchased by a buyer going through the consent process to get a yard for his business. So we&#8217;ve had inquiries from those sorts of people. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;And then we&#8217;ve had one good enquiry from a buyer potentially looking to go through a zoning process for future industrial use.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.oneroof.co.nz\/property\/canterbury\/yaldhurst\/602-yaldhurst-road\/TGPfE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">&#8211; 602 Yaldhurst Road, Yaldhurst, Christchurch, is for sale, deadline closing September 23<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#8211; Brooke McKenzie bought the &#8220;castle&#8221; at 602 Yaldhurst Road without initially telling his wife. &#8211; The property&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26393,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[442,498,499,500,501,156,1258,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-26392","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-artsdesign","12":"tag-design","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-latest-news","15":"tag-new-zealand","16":"tag-newzealand","17":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26392\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}