THIS Saturday marks the end of an era for the Craike family as they auction off the Alan Craike estate.

Three months ago, Mr Craike lost his life to cancer, leaving 14 years worth of collected items to his family.

Yesterday, 11 of Mr Craike's friends and family sorted through acres of "stuff" in preparation for the auction.

Wife Lorraine Craike said her husband would have enjoyed the sale.

"He would have loved this sale, he loved going to garage sales and down to the pig and calf sale," Mrs Craike said.

"He was very well respected and loved - such a family man, but he was a real hoarder.

"Everything he had, he had at least three or four of them and every birthday all he wanted was gates or barbed wire," she said.

Mrs Craike said he would visit his property two to three times a week and build something new every chance he got.

"He used to spend so much time out here and I would be like 'what are you doing out there' and he would say 'oh nothing' and when I would come down, there'd be a new shed or new fence and he would build everything himself," she said.

Older brother Neil Craike joked about his brother's collecting tendencies and said the sale would allow Alan's legacy to disperse into the community.

"It's all memorabilia. He could have told you where and when he bought each item and how much he paid for it," Neil said. "Al was a country boy at heart and when he retired he started collecting and this is the bloomin' outcome," he said.

Types of items for sale include tractors, ride-on mowers, tools, cars, crockery, furniture and more.

A friend of Mr Craike, Lyle McCoist, said everyone was happy to volunteer their time to help set up for the sale, and encouraged all to come and have a browse.

"Everyone's happy to help out and there's a bit of everything here to suit everyone," Mr McCoist said.

The auction begins at 10am and the property itself will go to auction at midday.