Since they've been there, Tony and Colleen have compiled an extensive history of the house, both through Tony's research and an open-door policy to visitors who have associations with the property. "People would come to the door and say, 'My grandfather used to live here' and ask to look around, and we've always said 'yes' to them," Tony says. "So we've heard lots of stories about the place, and even been given old photos."
An understanding of the house's history fuelled their desire to renovate it in appropriate style, and that's meant quite a lot of hard work. Fortunately, many of the major jobs, such as reblocking and gibbing, had been done, but there were still a few difficult tasks on the list.
The house was painted mainly white inside but Tony and Colleen knew there was kauri underneath, so they took all the ceiling boards down, stripped them back to timber one by one, refinished them and put them back up. In a 262sq m, two-level villa with five bedrooms, two living areas and study, the renovation was a labour of love, and they completed about one room a year.
Finding the right furnishings was another challenge. When they were doing the bulk of the work, pastels were in vogue and it was a mission to find the dark colours and patterned wallpapers they knew would suit the house. Luckily, they already had lots of old furniture and they added to their collection by haunting garage sales and second-hand shops for suitable pieces.
When Tony's dad moved in with them, they built him a separate cottage which, more recently, has been used as a bed-and-breakfast suite. Other buildings on the property include a red barn, a garage and studio space.
Colleen and Tony enjoy the garden and they've done major work in its design and planting. Tony did much of the original design and now looks after the trees, lawn and hedges, including the beautiful horseshoe hedge in front of the house. He also takes care of the orchard, which has apples, pears, nectarines, mandarins, plums, feijoas, persimmons, tamarillos, peaches and macadamias, all of which are good croppers. There's also a herb garden and a croquet lawn.
However, part of the 2.9ha is gently sloping grazing land for Colleen's sheep. As a long-time spinner and weaver, she had always sold her work at craft fairs and knew there was enough of a market for it to justify her own flock.
"So, when we came here, we decided we could have sheep to produce our own wool, and now there are 30 adults and 30 lambs," she says.
The mainly black Romney flock is multi-purpose. Colleen uses the leftover wool as garden mulch. Not only is it a great weed suppressant, but it breaks down and feeds protein into the soil.
The sheep will not be going with the couple on the next stage of their lives, which is to take up the original plan of finding a suitable piece of land on which to build a retirement home.
