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We couldn’t resist the charms of an unrestored 1930s character filled house, so in 2004 we bought a very original 1930’s ‘sleeping beauty’.

However, there was a catch. The house was sold to be removed from its site.

Relocating a house might seem to be an everyday occurrence, until you're the people making the move. The challenges began before the house was on the back of the trailer.

The land we were going to shift the house to, proved unsuitable. With the clock ticking down to removal day, we had just 8 weeks to find another piece of land and get the necessary resource and

building consents to make the move.

Then we had to get it out of a narrow street full of utility poles with only centimetres of clearance, during a Norwest gale.

When we finally found a suitable plot and the house was safely on its piles, an eighteen-month adventure began as the house was re-roofed, re-wired, re-plumbed, insulated and all the original

character features restored and carefully re-instated.

We didn't anticipate how the remoteness and climate of North Canterbury’s Waipara Valley would compel us to go off-grid, with solar power and water heating, and adopt a different way of life to turn our dreams of a country life into reality.

To complement the house we created a garden from a sheep paddock with soil that turned like concrete in the summer amongst souring temperatures and strong nor-westerly winds.

This is our story of what we did over twenty years to achieve the country living dream, but it's not for the faint-hearted.

Not for the faint-hearted is written by Grant Mangin and Russel Wedge, and was published in January 2025.