Manor Reborn

After spotting this beauty in the NSW Southern Highlands, one couple’s plans for a weekender quickly evolved into a treechange.

- Chris Pearson

Four years ago, interior designer Nadia Fitzgerald was browsing real-estate websites for a weekender to buy when she chanced upon this magical house in the NSW Southern Highlands, a special find that would turn her life upside down. Built in the 1970s, the home had all the solidity and elegance of an English manor with a sprinkling of Hamptons breeziness. “It has a presence that draws you in,” she says. “It’s warm and beautiful, with a homely feel the moment you enter the gate and drive through those spectacular gardens.” Lofty beamed ceilings, panelled walls and bedrooms with dormer windows sealed the deal.

Her husband Anthony was equally smitten, so they abandoned the weekender notion in favour of a treechange. “We fell in love with the house and needed to live here,” says Nadia. Within weeks, they and their two children Maddie, now 12, and Jessie, now 10, had upped sticks and moved to the country. They have never looked back.

Despite its “good bones”, the home was rather dated and needed a few modifications to make it more family-friendly. Its poky rooms, dark timberwork and heavy burgundy curtains left daylight at the door, resulting in spaces that were oppressive and uninviting. Thick moss-green carpets, while once appropriate for the country setting, now looked tired. Original salmon pink and yellow bathrooms also recalled the era in which the house was built.