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Relocated mansion at Clarks Beach listed ‘with deepest of sadness’

Now a restored homestead, Huntly House was cut into six pieces for the move from Palmerston North to Clarks Beach.

Last updated: 19 November 2025 | 3 min read

Hayley Parsons has poured everything into the relocation and renovation of one of this country’s most beautiful mansions, Huntly House. But now the house she bought with husband Chris is on the market due to a marriage break-up. “To say that it breaks my heart is a bit of an understatement,” admits Hayley.

In 2017 the couple moved the gigantic 600m², three-storey house in six pieces from Palmerston North to Clarks Beach near Auckland, where they established a boutique accommodation and wedding venue business run by Hayley.

When the relocation and renovation was completed she said to Stuff that it was an overwhelming project: “Looking back from a distance, I can see that it was absolute madness.”

Flashback: Hayley Parsons is pictured outside Huntly House in 2021 following the completion of the house renovation, but pre-landscaping. “It’s just a house in a paddock at present,” she said.

But she has loved it, and her progress has been followed by more than a thousand people on social media. An open day halfway through the renovation saw the house inundated with viewers. But, now, with the split, the Parsons have listed the property for sale by tender.

“We are reaching the end of an era here at Huntly House,” Hayley posted on Facebook. “It is with the deepest of sadness that this year is the last I will be hosting weddings and events. Our deeply loved whare is on the market for sale.

Hayley Parsons believes the house has settled into the perfect location - on rolling countryside close to the water.

“This was not part of the long term strategy for Huntly House but personal circumstances changed and the sale of this outstanding home is necessary for property settlement between us.

“I can’t thank everyone enough for loving our home as much as I have... the next exciting adventure/project is not far away I’m sure.”

Speaking with Stuff, Hayley describes her emotional rollercoaster: “I’m not going to lie. It is really gutting.” But there was a highlight this weekend, when Huntly House hosted a wedding on Saturday, followed by an open home on Sunday.

“Yesterday I met the great-granddaughter of Adam Burgess, the first owner who built the house in 1911. She came to the open home, and the agent phoned me and said ‘you must get back to the house right now’.

“I was so excited she turned up. I had been looking for living relatives of Adam Burgess for a long time and not found any, and now I have met Hinemoa, and she lives in Birkenhead.”

All the native timbers in the grand entry have been brought back to life.

Oil stains remain on the floor of the formal living room from the days when the house was a mechanics’ workshop - there was a grease pit where the rug is.

Long associations come to light

There have been other “connections” over the years, all of them special to Hayley, who has loved piecing together the history of the house, which she says “has overheard talk of the Titanic sinking, the First World War and everything since”.

She had a group through for a weekend who had been boarders in the house in the 1970s. “They had a mini-reunion and came and stayed in the house.” Others who have visited have either lived in the house (in Palmerston North) or stayed in it when it was a hotel.

Every room has a view. At right is the new double-height bay addition.

The first wedding to be held after the renovation was for one of the builders who worked on the project. And there was even a family connection there - a grandparent had lived close by and played in the house as a child.

Hayley says she overhead someone say recently, ‘this must be one of the original homesteads [in the area]’. “That was a real complement. The house is in the perfect location - the relationship between the house and land and the water work so well. It’s a house that fosters a real sense of peace and safety. No-one who has stayed here has ever said they had a bad sleep.”

But now, Hayley is preparing to hand over the reins: “I am looking for someone who will pick up where I am leaving off and continue being a guardian - someone who will love it as much as I do.”

There’s now an easy flow between the formal living and dining areas and the kitchen beyond. Huge openings to the outdoors prove invaluable for events.

The rangehood mantle in the kitchen was restored to its former glory.

Huntly House, which once had 14 bedrooms, now has seven bedrooms (five with ensuite bathrooms), three living areas and six-plus bathrooms, and sits on 8.95ha of rolling pasture land overlooking the Manukau Harbour.

And the house is now larger than it was, with the addition of a double-height bay section on one side, and an extension at the rear for service areas.

Large glass sliding doors can be opened to allow an easy flow between the vast formal living room, dining area and new kitchen, part of which was once the cook’s room. There are spectacular views out to water, both front and back.

Original stained glass windows remain a key feature - this one framing a beautiful view at the top of the stairs.

A grease pit in the living room

But it wasn’t always this way. The house that started life as a family home, was at one stage a private hotel, and then the base for a car dealership and mechanics’ premises. The outline of the hole for the grease pit can still be seen under the rug in the formal living room, along with old oil stains that add character to the timber floor.

The second family to own the house moved it onto a larger site in Palmerston North in 1984, and undertook a major renovation. The Parsons are just the third family to own the house, but in between the villa has been owned by the local council, which bought the property to create a new subdivision.

Five of the seven bedrooms come with ensuite bathrooms. This is the huge main suite.

And many of the bedrooms open out to a veranda.

Central House Movers in Bulls later bought the house for relocation and that was when it was spotted by the Parsons.

But the sale isn’t just about the house - there are other income-producing opportunities with 8.95ha. The property has nine paddocks, a shared bore feeding the troughs, and fully equipped stock yards, making it ideal for grazing or hobby farming.

Michele Mathieson of Bayleys Pukekohe, who holds the listing with Maddison Butcher, says there is nothing to compare the property to - it is that unique.

Tenders for Huntly House, 111 Wharf Rd, Clarks Beach, Franklin, Auckland close on December 3, 2025.