SLICE of HEAVEN

From London to the beach bliss of Devonport, Auckland, a returning family discover the reality of their Kiwi life is even better than their rosy memories

- Shelley Tustin

LIVING

The black Elbow dining chairs and Vassa American oak dining table are both from IDO Interior Design Online and ideal for family meals and entertaining friends made in the neighbourhood. "Everyone gets together for a glass of wine at the beach in the summertime," says homeowner Kate Sumner-Brown.

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MEET & GREET

Kate Sumner-Brown (legal recruitment company owner), her husband Kris (senior finance partner), and their daughters, Margaux, eight, and Charlotte, six.

THE PROPERTY

Weatherboard bungalow built in 1926, Devonport, Auckland.

Distance, as they say, makes the heart grow fonder. The old adage is a truth lived by many expat Kiwis, but the luckiest ones get to keep this rosy view long after they return home. Such is the case for Kate and Kris, whose memories of an idyllic Kiwi childhood have been trumped by the charm of their current life, one of barefoot bliss with their two girls in a sunny Devonport weatherboard house that's within a sandy stone's throw of the beach.

No place like home

Covid brought many globe-trotting Kiwis back to New Zealand, but for Kate and Kris Sumner-Brown who had spent 13 years in London, it was just one part of a series of events that turned the vague notion of a coming home "someday" into one-way tickets back to Godzone. With a lovely life in London, the family were poised to further cement their ties to Blighty with a move to Surrey, when things went pear-shaped. The day after the sale on their previous house went unconditional, the deal on their new property fell through, leaving the family adrift with only a short time to find a place to live and prompting a discussion about where that new place should be.