A former canine castle with a colourful history in the hills above Wellington is back on the market in a mortgagee sale.
The five-bedroom castle in the Brooklyn hills previously housed a luxury doggy daycare business and in 2019 it was raided by armed police who discovered improvised explosive devices.
The castle - valued at more than $3 million - is sited at 430 Hawkins Hill Road and was previously the venue for Woofington’s, a luxury retreat for dogs from 2017 to 2021.
The venue sold for $3.2 million in October last year. However it is now back on the market and is being advertised as a “mortgagee auction”.
The castle features prominently in a new documentary released on TVNZ+ this week - What the Hell Happened at Woofington’s? by journalist and director Baz Macdonald.
Woofington’s manager Robert Bromley told police there was something disturbing in a safe inside the castle walls.
Police who raided the building described the find as two improvised explosive devices and Bromley was charged with possessing an improvised explosive device under the Arms Act.
However in November 2019 he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of possessing black powder in a pyrotechnic device. Wellington District Court Judge Chris Tuohy said the device was "not capable of exploding in the sense of some bomb or IED but more like going off like a firework".
What the Hell Happened at Woofington’s tells the story of two young women who worked for Bromley at the dogcare business.
They outline a harrowing experience involving drug use and a armed robbery at the castle allegedly relating to a drug debt. One of the woman interviewed described Woofington’s as being like a “mental asylum”.
The three-part series investigates the experiences of two young women who worked at the retreat, which was raided in 2019 by armed police. (Source: TVNZ)
Hilltop castle 'commands breathtaking panoramic views'
The castle was built by businessman Brian Willman in the late 1990s and he originally planned to use it as a conference centre. However it was later used as the luxury dog daycare business Woofington’s, with pampered pooches collected in a company Porsche.
Willman sold the property in October last year for $3.2 million.
However the castle has this week been advertised for sale again as a “mortgagee auction”.
Real estate firms Harcourts and Sotheby’s are both marketing the property.
The 4028m2 castle and surrounding grounds are described as “commanding breathtaking panoramic views stretching across Wellington City, the Harbour and the majestic Cook Strait”.
The castle, which has an RV of $3.68 million, features five bedrooms, a “turret dining room” and a commercial kitchen.
Since the October sale the property had been rebranded Wellington Castle and was available to rent for prices starting at $945 a night.
It is positioned behind Wellington’s famous wind turbine in the Brooklyn hills with the castle only accessible via a secure gate.
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