{"id":505814,"date":"2026-07-02T07:35:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T07:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/505814\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T07:35:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T07:35:14","slug":"tiraus-sheepdog-ewe-and-ram-buildings-are-baa-ck-on-the-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/505814\/","title":{"rendered":"Tirau&#8217;s sheepdog, ewe and ram buildings are baa-ck on the market"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>One of the most iconic landmarks in the North Island, the corrugated iron buildings of Tirau, are up for sale.<\/p>\n<p>The sheepdog, ewe and ram were last sold in 2016, but the hunt is on for a new owner for Tirau&#8217;s most photographed buildings.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Back in the 90s, there was a couple called John and Nancy Drake that were searching the country for a site for a wool and craft store, and they found this property interior,&#8221; Brendan Bradley &#8211; the real estate agent tasked with selling the unique property &#8211; told Morning Report.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They had a vision for a sheep-type building. They went ahead and did some concept plans and had that built,&#8221; Bradley said.<\/p>\n<p>The Drakes decided to establish a wool and craft store and settled on the Tirau site, having the sheep built in 1994.<\/p>\n<p>The ram was added more than a decade later to provide more space for the business.<\/p>\n<p>The &#8220;Big Dog&#8221; is home to the T\u012brau Visitor Information Centre, and sits alongside the Big Sheep Honey and Souvenir Shop and The Ram SPCA Opportunity Shop. All three structures played a key part in Tirau being labelled the &#8220;corrugated capital of the world&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/not-everyone-is-a-fan-of-the-buildings-AF6GZ2KYTRDCXOB7YL4DLPPKHQ.jpg\" alt=\"Not everyone is a fan of the buildings.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"ImageMetadata__MetadataParagraph-sc-hi5x8q-0 cWTYyG image-metadata\">Not everyone is a fan of the buildings. (Source: Bayleys Tauranga)<\/p>\n<p>Reviews on TripAdvisor reflect the popularity of the site with tourists.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We love seeing these buildings in Tirau. We took Miss 5 there and she loved the animal buildings, she didn&#8217;t want to leave,&#8221; one post read.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/all-three-structures-played-a-key-part-in-tirau-being-labell-QZKOPPM3IVHILAZF57JKTYBRAQ.jpg\" alt=\"All three structures played a key part in Tirau being labelled the &quot;corrugated capital of the world&quot;.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"ImageMetadata__MetadataParagraph-sc-hi5x8q-0 cWTYyG image-metadata\">All three structures played a key part in Tirau being labelled the &#8220;corrugated capital of the world&#8221;. (Source: Bayleys Tauranga)<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I made a stop here while on the way from Auckland to Taupo. Probably one of the most iconic toilet stops that I ever had!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Although, not everyone is a fan.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Located on the way to Hobbiton because we can&#8217;t understand why they are so famous,&#8221; another reviewer said.<\/p>\n<p>The auction will take place on July 22.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/RI2LJL3IAFHU3M5JTPY7HNVEIU.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"ImageMetadata__MetadataParagraph-sc-hi5x8q-0 cWTYyG image-metadata\">(Source: Bayleys Tauranga)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the most iconic landmarks in the North Island, the corrugated iron buildings of Tirau, are up&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505815,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[138,9001,42,43,814,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-505814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-business","tag-hamilton-waikato","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-property","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505814","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=505814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}