Listing of the Day
Location: Langley, British Columbia, Canada
Price: (C$10.55 million) (US$8.9 million)
The couple selling this home met in the U.K. and their taste for all things British can be seen throughout their renovated Rockwood Estate. An English-style country house just 40 minutes from Vancouver, the house is somewhat eclipsed by its magnificent landscaping.
When the couple, who asked to remain anonymous, bought the property in 2011, there was very little there, a small home on agricultural land. Now it is an estate with top-class equestrian facilities. In fact, the sellers spent $1 million on doing up the barn alone, creating a ranch like nothing else in the area, according to agent Chris Burns, of Engel & Völkers Vancouver.
They also asked Mark Bolender, a leader in the sport of extreme, mountain and competitive horse trails, to design an equestrian mountain course where you can train your horse to deal with water, obstacles and varied terrain.
Stats
The four-bedroom, five-bathroom house clocks in at 5,000 square feet and is set on 15.19 acres.
More:With New 15% Foreign Buyer Tax, Vancouver Sales Cool
Amenities
The barn houses a full, 13,000-square-foot indoor equestrian facility. There are custom-built stalls for the horses from which they can go straight out and pasture and a unique tack room and lounge for relaxing after a hard day’s riding, including a fully rotating custom wall that stores the saddles. "They’ve thought of every little detail," Mr. Burns said.
The house itself opens out to a pool area and hot tub, and there's a large covered outdoor entertaining space with a summer kitchen.
Inside there’s a fitness room and wine cellar; landscaped gardens include a lake with ornamental waterfalls.
Design pedigree
The house preserves the wild feel of a free-spirited European ranch house, Mr. Burns said. The house itself is purposefully a bit smaller than those you would tend to see on land of this size in the area. That said, it has welcoming, warm interior decor: lots of exposed wood beams, stone walls and floors, open fires, palettes of creams and a country-style kitchen.
"They really wanted something that would be elegant but rustic and timeless," Mr. Burns said. "It is designed, with its timber frame and long grand drive from the front private gate to feel like an English country estate. This is not your typical farm in the suburbs."
Kettle River Timberworks, a British Columbia design company, created the timber in the home, textured with a chainsaw and stained to provide a aged look. The company is well known for the "established look," traditional designs influenced by the old world charm of English country cottages.
The outside area has a more Mediterranean feel, with thick travertine floors while the pool and hot tub are made of sandstone, shipped from Arizona.
More:Putting the Horse Before the House
Neighborhood notes
In Langley, it is all about the outdoor and equestrian pursuits. It’s also minutes to the ocean, and under an hour to the mountains.
The house is flanked by a vineyard on two sides, the Chaberton Estate Winery, a 55-acre award winning vineyard, the oldest in the area with a Zagat-rated restaurant, Bacchus Bistro, that brings people from Vancouver. Owners could commute to the city no problem, Mr. Burns said, or even to the U,S. Seattle is just two-and-a-half hours away, while the U.S. border is mere minutes.
Agent: Chris Burns, Engel & Völkers Vancouver
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Correction
The listing price of the property is C$10.55 million (US$8.9 million). An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the property's listing price as C$15.5 million (US$12 million). (3/10/17)