Country haven on city fringes
The garden is a family delight, writes Catherine Smith
There’s a touch of romance in the way Christine Thompson and Alec Brown talk about their cottage tucked down a long, tree- lined driveway between Mt Eden and Dominion roads. Their son Josh was only a pre- schooler when they bought in 2001, drawn by the greenery of the garden, surrounded by a huge oak tree, totara and pohutukawa and what Alec calls the “country charm, a haven’ in the midst of busy suburbs.
“There are so many secret places in the garden,” says Christine. “Josh’s tree hut is in the best climbing tree, areas in the back yard where the children could play in the ‘ jungle’, we had a trampoline and a sandpit. It’s all relaxed and rambling, you can see it’s been a family home forever. The secret gate to the back [ Birdsong] lane, which was full of boys on scooters and skateboards.”
Records are scant on the house but the couple understand it was built around 1910 as a pair of cottages, joined up and extended by later sets of owners.
Both sides have the tall ceilings of pre- war buildings, but the living room is embellished with ornate plaster ceilings and a large square bay window of Arts and Crafts origin. In the winter this is the family’s favourite spot for soaking up the sun and it is warmed by a wood fire — they use it as a library, too.
The bedrooms on the other side have more simple Victorian- style battens, while the central entry lobby and tiny office tucked off it are more modern. Christine and Alec have been told that at one time the house has been offices for a timber merchant and a perfumery. An elderly man who had grown up in the house told them that when he lived there Balmoral was considered the back of beyond, with oak trees lining a drive all the way to Dominion Rd, and wild country stretching south.
Pulling the cottages together is a wide verandah, which wraps from the front lawn around in a wide sweep to the back yard. One of the bedrooms ( with another bay window, this with windowseat) opens off it; in the spring it is draped with scented wisteria, in summer it is the family’s second sitting room. Even in winter it is protected from wind and rain, a great spot for unwinding after a day’s work
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or settling with the weekend papers.
“Even though it is old, every room just flows from one to the other, it’s quite contemporary,” says Christine. She and Alec added a loft bed in Josh’s bedroom to make the most of the high ceilings, but have not touched the bathroom, spacious laundry and open- plan kitchen/ dining room put in by previous owners. The kitchen looks into the back yard trees, and has its own deck that catches the last of the evening sun — summer meals are all eaten out here, it has back door access for the small boys coming and going in the lane and back yard.
“The street was a swarm of little boys; they could all walk to school,” says Christine. “You cannot move on Halloween, it is so busy here.”
Alec appreciated the proximity to Centennial Park, where the kids could throw Frisbees, climb more trees and tunnel about.
“By the time I arrived at our gate, work and city hassle were far behind me, replaced by country calm, a haven in the city,” he says.
In the front yard, keen gardener Christine enlisted award- winning landscape designer Hilary Smythe to help shape the lawn into an easy care garden. The pair added clipped hedges to the existing Mt Eden stone walls, with sweeps of bedding plants to provide gentle structure for lovely views from the living room and verandah.
Josh is now at university and as Alec travels a lot for work, the family is planning to move from their enchanted greenery in the heart of the suburbs.