Grand Designs NZ returns… what did our expert think of the first big renovation?<\/p>\n
Finally, an episode of Grand Designs New Zealand that actually is grand. <\/p>\n
\n I\u2019ve seen some lacklustre episodes over the years, many that are much closer to mediocre, and I sometimes wonder if the word grand
\n should even be in the title.\n <\/p>\n
Frankly, some of the worst ones I\u2019ve watched have been a little bit Kiwi ho-hum. Uninspiring. Lacking in vitality. I get it, we\u2019re a country grounded in egalitarian values \u2013 we don\u2019t do grand. <\/p>\n
Earnscleugh Castle owners Marco Creemers and Ryan Sanders and friends. Their four-year multi-million dollar project features in the first episode of the 10th season of Grand Designs NZ.<\/p>\n
It doesn\u2019t get any grander than this. A rich Auckland couple and their two French bulldogs move to Central Otago to live in their dream castle. Actually, the castle is more \u2018nightmare\u2019 than \u2018dream\u2019 when they arrive, but more on that later. <\/p>\n
This is a reality TV show, where it\u2019s all about chaos to calm, mostly chaos before that last bit of calm at the end. <\/p>\n
Most of the episode is filled with things that go wrong. Rodents in the walls. Pressure on personal relationships. Unexpected delays. Rising costs. Then\u2026 the wrap at the end where they rescue it all and make it pretty. <\/p>\n
To be honest, the only castle I\u2019d heard of in New Zealand until this was Larnach Castle in Dunedin. <\/p>\n
Earnscleugh Castle doesn\u2019t roll off the tongue nearly as nicely as Larnach, but it\u2019s got the castle vibes. The roofline is all castle, and it sits majestically in the countryside, among leafy trees, with a separate coach house and stables nearby. <\/p>\n
Earnscleugh Castle pictured in June 2022.<\/p>\n
Marco Creemers and Ryan Sanders took on the daunting task of renovating and restoring it. <\/p>\n
The couple clearly had a vision. They know how to do grand in a no-expenses-spared kind of way, which was thrilling to watch. <\/p>\n
I want to be wowed when I watch Grand Designs, and this is one of the best episodes I\u2019ve seen. <\/p>\n
Partway through the renovation of Earnscleugh Castle.<\/p>\n
Creemers and Sanders end up spending a whopping $11 million on the castle. They originally budgeted $7 million, but the enormous scale of the renovation and rising costs, coupled with delays and unforeseen issues that are part of every building project, dramatically push it up by $4 million. <\/p>\n
Even if spending $11 million is out of almost everyone\u2019s league, sometimes you\u2019ve got to be impressed with the ideas the rich come up with. <\/p>\n
The new-look castle has a fancy barbecue and sauna area. A room just for the dogs. A huge swimming pool. Three kitchens. A lot of furniture. Dinner sets. Rugs. All this was adding up. <\/p>\n
Then there was the beautiful new hand-carved rimu timber staircase set in a double-height foyer that\u2019s perfect for wafting up and down. <\/p>\n
The renovation in progress.<\/p>\n
As I followed the nips and tucks, and major surgery of the castle, the story had me gripped. The transformation definitely had the \u2018wow\u2019 factor. The more I watched, the more I found myself getting emotionally involved. <\/p>\n
I began to understand why Creemers and Sanders were smitten from the moment they first saw the castle in 2022. <\/p>\n
Even when it was sad and neglected, there was something incredibly beautiful and romantic about its Jacobean style. Heritage New Zealand knows it\u2019s special, too. It\u2019s listed as a Category 1 heritage building. The castle clearly deserved to be saved and made beautiful again. <\/p>\n
The renovation was approved by Heritage New Zealand and had the support of locals. <\/p>\n
There must have been a point when the scale of the project started haemorrhaging money from the renovation budget. Impressively, Creemers and Sanders did not blink. The force of their convictions saw them through. <\/p>\n
I was stunned by how much it ended up costing. <\/p>\n
So were Creemers and Sanders when they talked money with Grand Designs host Tom Webster at the end of the episode. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a lot of money,\u201d says Sanders to Webster. \u201cBut we love where we are.\u201d Creemers nods in agreement. \u201cI feel like this is where we belong,\u201d he adds, wiping away a tear. <\/p>\n
Earnscleugh Castle in Central Otago<\/p>\n
What they have achieved is extraordinary. They\u2019ve brought all the comforts of the 21st century to the castle without losing any of its classic style. <\/p>\n
I\u2019m a city girl who has never dreamed of moving to the country to romp around a majestic country pile with a couple of French bulldogs, but there were moments when I briefly considered it while watching this episode. <\/p>\n
I am wondering if there are any more rundown castles tucked away in the New Zealand countryside? If there is, please get in touch with Grand Designs asap. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Earnscleugh Castle opens its bed and breakfast accommodation in October. Creemers and Sanders are running a giveaway, where two people can become the first guests to stay at Earnscleugh Castle. For more information, see earnscleughcastle.co.nz\/giveaway <\/p>\n
Grand Designs screens on Sundays on TVNZ1 and is available to stream on TVNZ+<\/p>\n
More inspiring homes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Grand Designs NZ returns… what did our expert think of the first big renovation? Finally, an episode of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376516,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[12619,64509,11357,12941,8459,196030,1601,1888,10813,702,111,43,139,69,18047,6443,5662,61,6736,6923,19985],"class_list":{"0":"post-376515","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-11m","9":"tag-blows","10":"tag-budget","11":"tag-castle","12":"tag-designs","13":"tag-earnscleugh","14":"tag-expert","15":"tag-first","16":"tag-grand","17":"tag-it","18":"tag-new-zealand","19":"tag-news","20":"tag-newzealand","21":"tag-nz","22":"tag-renovation","23":"tag-returns","24":"tag-think","25":"tag-to","26":"tag-was","27":"tag-what","28":"tag-worth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376515","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=376515"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376515\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}