Wallingford homestead, with valuable Périgord truffle orchard, comes to market

When veterinarian Gareth Dunkerley returned from overseas eight years ago, he was looking to buy a property he could throw his enthusiasm for rural Aotearoa into. Raised in Hawke’s Bay, he began his search there.

He could not have timed his homecoming better. The Ormond family, stalwarts of the Bay’s farming community for 170 years, had just decided to part with their family homestead, Wallingford, at 2914 Porangahau Rd, 25 km south of Waipukurau.

“I’d known the property since I was a kid,” says Dunkerley, who is now based in Auckland. “I’ve ridden ponies and horses all my life, and as a child my mother used to take me to the Wallingford Gymkhana. When I got older, I hunted on the property.”

It was at one of those hunt meets that he met Johnny Ormond, who owned the property at the time. Ormond invited the young Dunkerley up to see the house, which had once been the largest estate in the country. It was love at first sight.

“It’s like a fairy tale, that property. I always had it in my mind. I used to dream about it,” Dunkerley says.

The fourth generation of Ormonds to live in the home, Johnny and Jen Ormond began opening Wallingford as a lodge in 2005, offering accommodation. That, however, was not the big drawcard for Dunkerley.

“I bought it for the farm, but it had this beautiful big house on it. And it’s an incredibly expensive house to maintain, so I thought, ‘right, this needs to make some money to support itself."

Despite having no hospitality experience, Dunkerley began the journey of turning Wallingford from an esteemed country estate into an internationally recognised food and wine destination. He was supported by Australian restaurateurs Chris Stockdale and Jeanette Woerner, who relocated to New Zealand to develop the business.

The idea was a complete farm-to-table experience, with both vegetable and meat produce used in the lodge kitchens.

Guests could complete the country estate experience with an overnight stay in the homestead.

At 884 m², the 1853-built home is a lot of house. Much of that scale comes from renovations carried out by Jack and Gladys Ormond, the second generation of Ormonds to run the estate, between 1917 and 1920. With 10 children to accommodate, the renovations left the home with 12 bedrooms, a nursery wing and a school room.

Today, the lodge has been renovated to retain its period detail while offering luxe, modern accommodation. Sitting on a 75.39 ha estate, it now has nine bedrooms and suites and can accommodate about 15 guests.

There is also a second self-contained dwelling on the property, along with a pool and pool house. Typical farm outbuildings remain, including a woolshed, hay barn and storage sheds.

Possibly the most unique addition to the property is the truffière, or truffle orchard, which covers about 3.95 ha. The orchard is planted with around 1800 evergreen French oak trees, the roots of which have been inoculated with the highly prized Périgord black truffle.

Now about 16 years old, the orchard is maturing and beginning to produce enough of the tasty little fungi to service Wallingford’s kitchens. It is possible it will yield enough truffles to sell in future years.

“It hadn’t produced any truffles when I bought the farm, but probably in our first or second year of owning it, it started to produce, and now it’s producing quite a lot,” Dunkerley says. “We also run truffle weekends through winter, and they’re very popular.”

The truffles are located by a specially trained dog belonging to a friend. “She comes out at the beginning of winter and finds where the truffles are. We mark them, follow their progress, and harvest them when they’re ready for the restaurant.”

Dunkerley says the decision to part with Wallingford has been a tough and emotional one.

“Every time I go there, I fall in love with it all over again, so letting go of it is quite difficult. It’s a very special place, and I feel very privileged that the Ormonds passed it on to me. Hopefully they feel I’ve done a good job with it.

“I’m very passionate about my team. Chris is the chef and Jeanette is front of house. They’ve put their heart and soul into that place, so I’m really hopeful we’ll find somebody who wants to run the lodge as a business. Ideally a Kiwi would be great.”

That said, Dunkerley is aware of the estate’s high profile overseas and believes there is a high possibility the buyer will be international.

Wallingford holds a Frommer’s three-star rating and has received a Cuisine Award.

It is next to impossible to put a price on a property like this, given the lack of comparable sales. The property has a September 2024 CV of $2,870,500, which is unlikely to reflect its current market value.

Wallingford is for sale price by negotiation. The listing is with Hadley Brown and Danny Blair for Colliers.