Freehold High Country A Rare Find

Extensive freehold station properties are a rare find in New Zealand today, and one’s offering multiple income opportunities even rarer.

Glazebrook Station, located 46km up the Waihopai River valley in Marlborough has a hard-won reputation as a superb hunting property offering international standard game hunting opportunities located approximately one hour from Blenheim airport.

Positioned in the river valley with sweeping high country that runs to 1,600m above sea level, the station’s landscape typifies the iconic vistas that are central to the southern psyche.

Bayleys Canterbury salesperson Garry Ottmann says purchase of the 8,877ha freehold property would mark a rare claim in today’s property market.

“ Glazebrook incorporates the full spectrum of the high-country station landscape within its title,” he says.

The station’s rare freehold title status is also matched by its unique multiple income earning streams. These combine a diverse range of activities including farming, tourism, honey harvesting and hunting, all from the one iconic title.

The station has enjoyed 16 years of intensive investment into its international standard hunting operation which includes a well-equipped, purpose-built lodge.

Built on an elevated site commanding expansive views up the valley, the lodge incorporates four separate bedrooms with ensuites, a lounge, open plan dining and kitchen, all powered through a self-contained 3.6kW hydro generator on the station.

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“The station provides both free range and game estate hunting. The game estate encompasses 1,215ha of fenced area, extending from valley floor to mountain top, covering the spectrum of wild game, including red deer, wild pigs, and goats.”

The valley floor is well tracked for four-wheel drives, with other tracks taking hunters to high topped tussock ridges and shingle scree slopes that are ideal shelter areas for high country game.

Even keen fishermen will find an outlet, with brown trout in the river.

The vendors are including the hunting operation in the sale, assisting with operating the business as required.

Balancing the hunting income is a cattle operation comprising 270 Angus, Angus-cross breeding cows across the quality tussock country, with good river flats grazing secured.

The property’s pristine natural environment means it is also ideally positioned with its 800 commercial beehives for honey collection spread throughout the title area.

Farm focused improvements on Glazebrook include large cattle yard facilities, a five-stand woolshed and yards, three-bedroom shearers’ quarters and a two-bedroom cottage and assorted out buildings. The hydro generating system is also backed up by a diesel generator.

Given its convenient distance to Blenheim, fully serviced with domestic airport links, Glazebrook’s remoteness is relative to the privacy being sought.

It offers the best of both South Island worlds, with its iconic landscapes and proximity to the region’s enticing vineyard and winery culture.

“We seldom see freehold properties of this size come onto the market, and the potential to develop it even further is certainly there – the lodge could integrate well with other tourism and recreation opportunities, to significantly increase the revenue streams.

“This could appeal to someone already in the hospitality, tourism or farming sector, or possibly a group of people with similar interests,” says Ottmann.

Glazebrook is for sale by way of Deadline sale through Bayleys Canterbury and Bayleys Marlborough, closing Friday April 30.

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