'Life lessons' - charming converted schoolhouse

This converted schoolhouse may be in the middle of urban Tauranga, yet it feels like a tree house in an isolated vale. \nIn the early 1900s children in Maramarua learnt their lessons in this schoolhouse. In 1995 the solid Kauri school was moved to Tauranga and nestled into a north facing hollow in the middle of Otumoetai, bordered by wide tracts of reserve both sides. \nThe school building, which had arrived in six pieces, was rebuilt into a charming cottage that invites you to embrace the lessons learnt by living expansively in a compact space, now warmly insulated. Delight in the lofty former classroom where sun streams in high windows and the wide verandah dips into the Puriri trees. Eat and entertain from the Rimu kitchen in the corner. Sleep cocooned in a converted cloakroom through French doors at the rear. Soak in the clawfoot bath in what was the teacher's lunchroom and watch the leaves sway across the windows. Wake to the sound of birdlife and enjoy learning all the joys of living in your private green urban landscape where you can hardly see a neighbour yet pop into the CBD in five minutes; and you are handy to the harbour and the seaside. \nThe 3308m2 site forms two 'triangles', the upper one where trees surround the home, the lower one a semi- wilderness with gentle banks which could become a canvas for a keen gardener. A lovely setting with a paper road on the right-hand side and the Waiaka Reserve on the left. \nRelish the history and atmosphere of this unique property which has featured in NZ House and Garden magazine. Or embrace the scope to add to the magical story of 35 Maungawhare Place.\n\n