The homestead at Merchiston Station in Rangitikei has fireplaces galore, an exquisite carved staircase and a ballroom which has entertained hundreds over the years.
Little has changed since it was built in the early 1900s. But what is it like to live in such an historic building and how do its present day occupants manage to preserve it and run a stud alongside?
Country Life went on a tour.
There was no breeze in the house but the curtains twitched as Vicki Rowe carefully made her way around Merchiston.
The grand old homestead had sat empty for four years after Vicki's mother-in-law left. She'd lived in the 35-room mansion alone for decades.
Now it was time for new caretakers to keep an eye on the place and Vicki and Richard Rowe moved in three years ago.
The billiard room at Merchiston Photo: (C) Jane Ussher
Merchiston sits like a splendid wedding cake waiting to be revealed at the end of a long metal drive at Rata in Rangitikei.
Travellers on nearby State Highway 1 would never guess it was there.
It has been a home to four generations of the same family since the 1900s when it was built by the eagle-eyed Edith Hammond, a "pocket rocket" of a woman, according to her great grandson Richard.
Edith led the construction of the mansion after receiving an inheritance from her father, one of the early Pākehā settlers in the area.
Tiles from Italy line the 70 metres of verandah around the house and each side is as grand as the next.
A jewel-coloured window in the billiard room, a ballroom with a kauri sprung floor and a grand central staircase carved by Ngāti Hauiti elders; nothing but the best for Edith, her husband John and their three children.
One of Merchiston's 35 rooms Photo: (C) Jane Ussher
"A lot of these old places get institutionalised. You see them all over the country, big old places, but this is actually a living home," Richard says.
It was so cold when they first moved in they had "puffer jacket parties", he says, laughing.
Giant old fashioned taps drip for days if you run a bath, says Vicki who admits it's not easy keeping things looking just so.
It costs on average $100,000 a year to maintain the house and the farm carries the burden, Richard explains.
To defray some of the costs, the couple take tours of the homestead which is listed as a Category 1 historic building with Heritage New Zealand.
Merchiston features in a new book Homesteads: The Story of New Zealand's Grand Country Houses, written and published by Debra Miller.
"The book is a tribute to the three generations that preceded us. They gave their lives to this," Richard says.
For more information visit www.merchistonhomestead.com
Country Life is giving away a copy of the book. For how to win, listen to the story here.
