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SAND CASTLE

A spectacular art-filled home matches its dramatic setting, on a double beachfront site in Taranaki

Words VIRGINIA WINDER / Photographs JANE DOVE JUNEAU

A spectacular art-filled home matches its dramatic setting, on a double beachfront site in Taranaki.

If the tide is full at Ōakura Beach, Darrin and Anna Muggeridge gaze out from their art-filled beachfront home and feel like they’re afloat. “Having breakfast at full tide feels like we are sitting on the water and the surfers are on our front lawn,” says Anna. Other times, they feel like they are on a ship. “We couldn’t think of a nicer place in the world to live,” says Anna of their coastal Taranaki home. “You never get tired of it,” says Darrin. It was through dogged determination that the owners of two New Plymouth hotels built their dream home facing the sometimes wild, sometimes docile Tasman Sea on the edge of a long black sand beach.

The house straddles two sections – their third and fourth attempt at securing a coastal property after many years of approaching the homeowners along the street where they now live. They bought the two properties a year apart and had the houses removed from each section.

During the school-age years of their four daughters – Chloe, now 32, Brooke, 31, Paige, 29, and Courtney, 27 – they lived close to New Plymouth Girls’ High School, but when the youngest left for university, they focused on a project for themselves.

Their nephew Christopher Holyoake designed the house, and helped build it, working alongside the Muggeridges’ own building crew, Phil Old and Brad Hodson, during four years of planning and construction. They got everything they dreamed of – five sea-facing bedrooms, all with en suites, a guest bathroom, a wine cellar, contemporary kitchen and scullery, upstairs and downstairs lounges starring black baby grand pianos that are played by the whole family, an outdoor entertaining area with a wood fire under a retractable roof, an outdoor shower, two large garages and a gym where Darrin works out on the rowing machine each morning while Anna heads off on her daily walk.

A sound system wired throughout the living areas means that sometimes the sound of the surf competes with the music.

The interiors echo the spectacular setting. The carpet is the same colour as the black sand, split local river stone adds texture and colour to walls inside and out, and golden rimu timber flows throughout like honey.

The couple talk about “our talented joiners” Peter Hunt and Peter Pittwood, who crafted rimu chairs from recycled wood used to make the original feature walls of New Plymouth’s Auto Lodge, started by Anna’s parents, Bruce and Ruth Simkin, in 1967. The men also made the rimu stairs, dining table and chairs, and all interior cabinetry.

Art is important to the couple and they have an impressive collection. The house is dotted with ceramic pieces by New Zealand artists, including Len Castle, Graham Ambrose, Peter Collis, Christine Boswijk, and local artists Nick Brandon and Maria Brockhill.

The walls are alive with works, all carefully placed by Darrin and Anna. There are artworks by Dick Frizzell and Jeff Thomson, among others, and a cheeky offering by Don Driver hiding around a corner, plus pieces by Michael Smither, Karl Maughan, Gretchen Albrecht and Max Gimblett – their top four choices to save in a fire. “A replacement would never be the same as we buy art because we love it,” says Anna.

They also own many pieces of iconic furniture and accessories such as an Arco floor lamp and chairs by Gerrit Rietveld and Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

Their four daughters each have their own bedroom, which are all decorated with art and Le Corbusier cowhide chaise longues. “The girls all enjoy collecting art too,” says Anna.

When they are home, they can step out of their rooms, cross the lawn, take the short path past 400 spinifex grasses groomed by the wind, and be on the beach. The spinifex help keep the sand at bay. “The first year we were here, we had a beautiful lawn which the sand engulfed during northerly storms. Now the lawn is protected and flourishing,” says Anna.

‘Having breakfast at full tide feels like we are sitting on the water and the surfers are on our front lawn’

“People say we were brave building so close to the ocean but we wouldn’t have built anywhere else,” says Darrin.

There have been many special times by the beach, notably the wedding day of their second daughter Brooke.

“It was a magical morning with our four daughters preparing for a wonderful celebration. The house worked incredibly well for the makeup artist and the two hairdressers using the floor-toceiling mirrors in the gym,” she says.

In May they hosted a cocktail event for the local art gallery’s Govett-Brewster Foundation members who got a chance to view the couple’s art and also have a tour of the house.

Running the Plymouth International hotel and Auto Lodge keeps the Muggeridges exceptionally busy, especially with Covidrelated challenges. Initially, they considered living on-site at the hotels during the week and spending their weekends at the beach but the lure of the sea and their dream home now sees them happily taking the 15-minute drive to and from Ōakura each day.

“Having a view of the ocean from every room in our home is something we never tire of,” Darrin says. “No matter what the weather is, the ocean always puts on a compelling display.

“Whether it’s sunny skies or a winter storm, the amazing vista we have makes this the only place in the world we would ever want to live.”

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