An idyllic rural estate that served as a film location for Peter Jackson’s epic “Lord of the Rings” trilogy is now up for grabs in New Zealand. Known as Fernside, the pastoral property’s history dates back to the late 1800s, when it was the homestead of the socially prominent and wealthy Elgar family. After the estate’s original residence burned down, the Elgars commissioned Kiwi architect Heathcote Helmore, a former student of legendary English architect Edwin Luytens, to design a new one.
Completed in 1924, the resulting elegant country manor was executed in Georgian Colonial Revival style and counts eight bedrooms, six bathrooms, a drawing room, a sunroom, a formal dining room, a library, a flower room, a boot room, and a wine cellar among its numerous interior spaces. Architectural features include oak and jarrah wood flooring, detailed plasterwork and molding, wainscoting, original tile, multiple fireplaces, an elevator, and “original servant bells.”
The property stayed in the Elgar family until 1949 when it was sold to the US embassy and served as home to the ambassador and a site for government receptions for several years. In the mid-fifties, it changed hands again and entered a period of steady decline that continued unabated until 2007, when its current owners purchased it and commenced a years-long restoration effort.
That effort extended to Fernside’s approximately 12 acres of gardens, which were restored to their original glory with the help of plans and photos from the 1930s. The Arts and Crafts-style gardens hold a plethora of different “rooms,” beginning with a formal courtyard with fountain, a rose garden, a topiary chess garden, a daffodil paddock, a bluebell glade, and a Victorian sunken garden. There’s also a “kitchen garden,” an orchard with just about every fruit tree you can think of, a lawn suitable for playing croquet, and a woodland populated with century-old oaks, cedars, elms, poplars, and weeping willows.
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Image Credit: PQ Property Intelligence/Forbes Global Properties -
Image Credit: PQ Property Intelligence/Forbes Global Properties -
Image Credit: PQ Property Intelligence/Forbes Global Properties -
Image Credit: PQ Property Intelligence/Forbes Global Properties -
Image Credit: PQ Property Intelligence/Forbes Global Properties -
Image Credit: PQ Property Intelligence/Forbes Global Properties -
Image Credit: PQ Property Intelligence/Forbes Global Properties -
Image Credit: PQ Property Intelligence/Forbes Global Properties In addition to the main residence, the estate contains a three-car garage, workshop, woodshed, and separate guest cottage. Originally the coach house and stable, the two-story converted cottage has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchen, laundry, and an open-plan living/dining space.
And then of course there’s the property’s main claim to fame, its lake, which was used as a location in two of the three films of director Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.
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Image Credit: PQ Property Intelligence/Forbes Global Properties -
Image Credit: PQ Property Intelligence/Forbes Global Properties The picturesque lagoon makes its first appearance in 2001’s “The Fellowship of the Ring,” in the scene where Cate Blanchett’s Lady Galadriel pulls up in style, i.e. astride a swan-shaped boat, to bestow some magickal accoutrements and gewgaws upon Frodo and his pals before they set off on their epic journey.
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Image Credit: New Line Cinema The lake also plays a major role in the second installment of the series, “The Two Towers,“ as the backdrop for Gollum’s origin story. Gollum, for those who didn’t read J.R.R. Tolkein’s fantasy novels or need a refresher, started out life as a regular-type Hobbit named Smégol. One fateful day, he went fishing with his cousin Déagol, who gets pulled off their rowboat and into the lake by a fish he’s hooked. After plunging into the lake, Déagol spots the titular Ring glimmering in the murk and brings it back up to the surface with him. Smégol is immediately transfixed by the ring, and when Déagol refuses to give it to him, Smégol murders his cousin to get it, thus setting off his transformation into the hideous Gollum. Here’s a nice screenshot of the cousins enjoying the lake in the last few moments before all that nastiness goes down.
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Image Credit: New Line Cinema According to a Stuff NZ article on Fernside, its longtime owners have reached retirement age and are ready to downsize to a home with less upkeep requirements. So if you like it and you wanna put a ring on it, the heritage estate is listed with Anthony Morsinkhof of PQ Property Intelligence/Forbes Global Properties for an asking price of $5.2 million.
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Image Credit: PQ Property Intelligence/Forbes Global Properties