Since launching to the market at the start of October, Bushey Park, a historic coastal farm at the gateway to Central Otago, has generated strong, qualified interest from astute buyers looking to acquire a rural asset with provenance and opportunity.

The well-developed 957ha property is currently operating as a productive sheep and beef breeding and finishing unit, but the farm has an entrepreneurial past with a lineage of owners demonstrating innovation and boundary-pushing in an otherwise fairly traditional farming community.

Willy Rathbone of Bayleys Dunedin is marketing the interesting and diverse property via a tender campaign closing 14th November, and describes it as a true trophy asset.

“Bushey Park has been a cornerstone of the area and has championed progress and change on the local agricultural scene.

“The property has scale, balance of contour, is well laid out with efficient lanes and access, a good portion of the farm is cultivatable, and the fencing is in excellent repair.

“With around 4kms of coastline, there are impressive sea views from most parts of the property and there could also be value unlocked through a farm park-style subdivision. This could be explored further through the usual regulatory channels.”

Rathbone says reflective of its former use as a successful deer farming operation under previous ownership, almost all of the property is deer fenced, although the deer handling facilities have been removed.

“The comprehensive deer sales’ complex has since been repurposed, with part used as machinery storage, and other space trialled as a function venue which, with further input, could create another income stream.”

Dwellings on the property capture pivotal moments in Bushey Park’s timeline. From the early-1920s there’s a commanding two-storey main homestead and a gardener’s cottage, both in excellent condition. A brick and roughcast cottage dates to the 1940s, while the 1950s are represented by a brick bungalow.

In the late 1800s, Bushey Park was owned by the Rich family who ran one of the province's first merino stud farms, with deer calves later imported from Scotland to establish a recreational hunting herd.

Following several changes of ownership, the farm was acquired in the 1920s by J.A Johnstone, chairman of stock and station agency Wright Stevenson, who planted thousands of trees and founded a highly regarded Corriedale stud operation, exporting offshore. He later farmed shorthorn cattle and set up a Clydesdale horse stud.

After being farmed by Johnstone’s estate for many decades, and several other diligent and entrepreneurial owners, Clive Jermy and the Jermy family bought Bushey Park in 1988.

The Jermys embarked on an ambitious upgrade programme across all aspects of the property, including pasture, water supply, the multiple dwellings and infrastructure. Most of the farm was converted to deer farming, and a flagship deer complex was built. The Jermys were awarded the inaugural Ballance Supreme Otago environment award for their diligent and visionary stewardship over their tenure.

The property was purchased by (the late) Jim Ironside and family in 2008 and has been farmed faithfully as a sheep and beef finishing and breeding unit by the family since, with Jim’s wife Jill and son Euan picking up the reins in recent years.

The family now wishes to exit the farm and consolidate roots back into Canterbury, so it’s time for a new owner to take Bushey Park forward.

Rathbone says while the property has been successful as a sheep and beef operation, and has not farmed deer for the past 16 years, the land could revert to deer and there are also other options to support the long-term economic viability of the property.

“The venison market is encouraging, and velvet is an improving market. Given the scale of the property, a new owner could run a hybrid farming operation with exposure to various sectors.

“Cropping on the flats could be optimised, the existing quality infrastructure could be leveraged – with the fencing also appropriate for alternative livestock classes – and forestry plantings could be extended on the sidlings and steeper faces.

“Bushey Park has proven to be a resilient and adaptable property, flexing to suit a broad range of farming practices over many years so the sky’s the limit.”

Bushey Park is located just north of Palmerston at the eastern end of State Highway 85, known as the Pig Route, and the gateway to the Otago Goldfields heritage trail and Central Otago region.

It lies 59km north of the Octagon in Dunedin Central, 87km to Dunedin Airport, and close to the tourist destinations of Moeraki and Oamaru.

Click here for more information on the listing.