Highwic

Highwic
**by [Celia Walker](/tags/celia-walker/ "Celia Walker")
**
Highwic is Newmarket’s grand old dame, a fully fitted out Heritage New Zealand Victorian era property (1863) that is open to the public, and offers a chance to experience everything from velvet, lace and crystal filled reception rooms down to plain lime-washed food storage chambers, and numerous garden outbuildings - it even has its own water reservoir. Highwic was built to plans taken from American A.J. Downing’s "The Architecture of Country Houses" - but this is not your knock-up production line piece - with its decorative bargeboards, slate roofs, leadlight windows and tall proportions, it exudes a stately charm aided by its elevated position over Newmarket.

The house was built for Alfred Buckland, an auctioneer, who fathered an astonishing 21(!) children with his two wives, Eliza Wallen and Matilda Jane
Frodsham. It is not surprising that there is a myriad of bedrooms and child centred spaces in the upper levels of the house, even with a dormitory for the boys it must have at times been full to bursting.

The house once stood at the centre of a larger five acre farm, and was built when Newmarket was largely rural – which it is now most certainly not, but the worst of the increasing visual incursions from the motorway, mall and carpark buildings around the boundaries have been largely screened out by the distinguished trees and well established gardens.

As with the Heritage NZ sister property Alberton, the green spaces around the house are literally buzzing with vigorous life, with bee gardens and beehives contributing to an inner city network of urban farms providing pollinator habitats and pathways for bees. The Croquet Lawn takes nature in the opposite direction, with its close-clipped perfection just the place for a long, slow game.

The cool shaded Fernery also has a lovely vintage charm, the green blush of moss and fern creeping over terracotta pots and stone surfaces. Spaces can be hired for functions, or you can just go for a stroll in the house and grounds – the house is open Wednesday to Sunday, 10.30 – 4.30, closed most public holidays. It's makeover was thanks to Jeremy Salmond of SalmondReed.

Image Credits: Celia Walker