Woman in gold
When working as a publishing director in Singapore, leading international magazines from Harper’s Bazaar to Cosmopolitan, Bridget Hope never pictured herself swapping her three-level terrace home in the Lion City for a park-like property in rural New Zealand.
She thought she might move back to Auckland, where she had previously worked in the magazine industry, but its inflating housing market helped her Cantabrian husband, Gabe Rijpma, in his long campaign to convince her to move to Christchurch. The couple bought their picturesque five-acre home in North Canterbury sight unseen.
The Ohoka neighbourhood was the main drawcard; the semirural township, with established gardens giving every neighbour their own slice of private paradise, seemed like a great place to bring up their two boys.
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