A startled seal scrambled up on to the roof of a shed in Kaikoura.

In recent years, she's had a seal in her garden, a seal on her doormat, and now a seal on her roof.

Ann McCaw, property manager at Fyffe House in Kaikoura, said the latest sea mammal to visit the Heritage New Zealand home museum was the most unusual yet.

Arriving at the property "a couple of months ago", McCaw - a distant relative of Richie - said she startled a seal, which set off at a flippery sprint and suddenly leapt on to the roof of a shed.

Anne McCaw The seal then clambered over the roof to a better vantage point.

That's right - leapt onto the roof.

"He was in the front garden. We both startled each other. He took off along the side of the house, he took a left and jumped on to the roof. The roof is surprisingly not far from ground level [at one end]."

It was about a two foot jump up for the seal, McCaw said - impressed at its agility.

Anne McCaw "I thought to myself, my goodness, I've got a seal on the roof, this is unreal."

"He had picked a bit of speed. He was in a hurry. They sort of leap, sort of flop, a sort of clamber really."

McCaw had some prior experience of seals on the property, she said, having had a "large bull seal" in the side garden once time - which had to be herded out by a neighbour on a bike with a horn.

On another occasion she found a seal curled up having a nap on the door mat outside the property.

Anne McCaw "I was on the ground waving my arms trying to herd him back the other way. He really would have hurt himself if he'd fallen off."

But a seal on her shed roof was something else, she said.

"He was up there for about 20 minutes. I thought to myself, my goodness, I've got a seal on the roof, this is unreal. He looked very happy. He was just looking out to sea, just doing a classic seal pose."

McCaw was concerned for the seal's safety, however, and tried to usher him down - which eventually worked.

While the jump up to the roof may have been only a metre high, the seal clambered around to the front of the house which "is a long way from the ground. Had he jumped off he would've been seal pâté."

"I was keen to get him off. I was really concerned he would jump off.

"I was on the ground waving my arms trying to herd him back the other way. He really would have hurt himself if he'd fallen off."

She estimated the seal was about three-quarters grown, she said.

Seals in unusual places have made news throughout the country this year, including three in a row in a brief period in the south Auckland suburb of Papakura: the seal at the car wash, the seal in the driveway, and the baby seal in the creek.

In greater Wellington, there was a seal pup in Lower Hutt and another inside a house on the Kapiti Coast.

Fyffe House was built between 1844 and 1860, using whale bones as foundations, and originally served as a home for a cooper when Kaikoura was a whaling community. Now it is maintained by Heritage New Zealand as a home museum.