Our country home
This is where the farmer was raised, and where our children grew up. The farm has become an intricate part of our identity and when I think about leaving (when the time comes), a sense of nostalgia creeps in, for the lives we have led and for the lives that have changed. Memories of the children growing up on the farm are still so vivid, from when the place was alive with laughter, joy, play, and the occasional tear.
The land has been in the family for 60 years. The house is tired now and needs more maintenance. It was transported to its current location in the 1940s. We noticed that the pedestal basin had the date inscribed beneath it before being replaced two years ago because it eventually cracked.
The original part of the house contained a kitchen and lounge with the bedrooms on the veranda and protected from the weather with flyscreen.
Over the years, rooms have been added. In April 2018, a major storm ripped through the house lifting a section of the roof. This happened immediately after we had installed floating boards in the sunroom.
The house is not elaborate and certainly is not the quintessential country home you will find in Country Life or Country Living magazines. There are no verandas skirting the main house or rolling green lawns with a pony in the far paddock. It has character, history, and home written all through it. Although we have made some attempts to renovate, it’s essentially the same house we moved into. The obvious things like furnishings, flooring, window treatments, and paintwork have been modified, adapted, or updated.
It nevertheless contains all the things that make a house a home: photos, books, toys, pot plants, furniture, outdoor garden and seating, clothes, perfumes, art materials, childhood memories …
The girls had go-karts, quad bikes and motorbikes from a very young age and drove the farm utes as soon as they could see over the dash. It was hardly a safe arrangement, but no one was ever hurt. They certainly developed some high-level fine and gross motor skills in doing so.
Over the years, rooms have been added. In April 2018, a major storm ripped through the house lifting a section of the roof. This happened immediately after we had installed floating boards in the sunroom.
