Paul Henry’s ‘murder’ castle for sale - new Traitors star looking for around $5m
Castle Claremont the perfect location for new season of hit TV show
The biggest star of The Traitors NZ is on the market for sale.
No, not host Paul Henry, but Castle Claremont in Timaru.
The “dark and mysterious” Gothic-style estate at the foot of Mount Horrible has been chosen as the location for season two of the popular TV show.
It will hit Kiwi screens on Monday, July 1, when Henry invites a new group of amateur sleuths to play his game of betrayal and deceit.
But keen followers of the housing market will recognise it as a listing on Oneroof.
Barfoot & Thompson listing agent Dino Curo told Oneroof he expected a surge of interest in the historic property at 222 Mount Horrible Road once The Traitors NZ is broadcast.
The 11.6-hectare estate, which has a price indication of around $5 million, was built in the 1880s and was once the residence of Lord Ranfurly when he was governor of New Zealand.
The current owner, Robert Young, picked it up almost 20 years ago for $1.5m, telling Oneroof last year that he decided to buy within 30 minutes of setting foot on the estate.
“I came up the driveway and said to the driver, ‘Wait, I’m having this, I won’t be long,’ and I was in and out within half an hour and that was it – done.”
Over the years he has hosted weddings, garden parties and vintage car meets at the estate, and run the main home as an Airbnb. The property has also served as a backdrop to several TV commercials.
Paul Henry with the cast of the new season of The Traitors NZ. Castle Claremont can be seen in the background. Photo / Supplied
The property has been on and off the market since 2019, with Young telling Oneroof last year that he hoped the next owner was “someone like myself who, when they see, says, ‘I’ve just got to have it.’”
“There is nothing else like it. It is an irreplaceable icon.”
The location scout for The Traitors thought so too and declared it the perfect setting for season two.
The show’s producers, South Pacific Pictures, leased the property for a month and in April TV crew and contestants took over.
Curo said Henry had made use of one of the estate’s self-contained units during filming.
The agent felt the property had a “Downtown Abbey” vibe. “It’s not haunted or anything. It’s more like a mansion than a castle, but it’s called Castle Claremont.”
One of the show’s producers said the cast and crew were at the estate for three weeks during filming and described the location as “breathtaking”.
“It became a wonderful backdrop for the drama and intrigue of The Traitors. As each crew member arrived, we had great fun watching their reaction as they toured the property and saw the potential it held. The camera operators were absolutely fizzing at being able to film at a property so visually rich, grand and quirky,” she said.
“It was a real estate listing that first caught our attention, and we immediately flew down one of the producers from Auckland to see if it was as beautiful in real life. We were not disappointed and now that the series has been put together we could not be more thrilled with our decision to base the series there.”
“The Traitors is a complex show to film. There were a number of spaces and areas on the property that we needed to meet the obligations of the show. For instance, we needed a large space away from the main filming areas to put our Round Table. We needed a large room for us to film the full cast having breakfast in, and lots of nooks and crannies for the players to have secret conversations amongst themselves. Castle Claremont gave us all of this and more.”
Curo said the 14-bedroom, five-bathroom property would suit a variety of buyers. “You can have a cafe, wedding functions, homestays – all those types of business can easily be done because basically, the vendor is leaving everything. He’s just walking out and leaving it all fullyfurnished and ready to go,” he said.
222 Mt Horrible Road, in Timaru, Canterbury, is for sale by way of negotiation