A Roof over my Head: Part 6: The Cottage

When European settlers came to New Zealand they built houses with verandas. Sometimes they went right round the house and sometimes they just covered the front. Houses were, following the European tradition, usually built facing South where possible. They were usually built of wood. However, because they were built facing South the front of the house rarely got any sun. This is very noticeable with houses in Auckland which have survived from that period.

Wendy's idea for this Cottage was that it should look like the original homestead on the land with their house being the later addition as the family fortunes increased. This is not an uncommon pattern. The colour of the Cottage was likewise chosen to replicate the early rural houses.

In this case there is one big difference: the Cottage faces due North and therefore gets the sun all day. This, of course, is predicated on the Sun actually being visible - which it certainly was not yesterday morning! It gets the sun on the East end (which is my bedroom) in the morning and it sets on the West end (spare bedroom and study). The deck (veranda) is covered by the roof and in midsummer when the sun is hottest it is also at its highest and the deck is largely in shade for most of the day.

The land is due to be landscaped over the next week or so and a lot of the soil mounds which are visible will be moved around and the drive will be levelled. At the moment a vehicle with high ground clearance is needed. Whatever assets The Handbag does have ground clearance is not one of them.

So that's the outside. Soon I'll give you a tour of the inside.