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| Loughmore Cottage |
This historic home was gutted by fire and rebuilt by a caring community.
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Rosevale and Loughmore Cottages, in Kangaroo Valley, NSW, were lovingly built and restored by Mark and Sara-Jane Cooper, to resemble original settler's cottages. On the final day of building, just over a year ago, Rosevale cottage was totally destroyed by fire. Loughmore Cottage was slightly damaged, but remained standing. The community rallied around to help them rebuild and restore the cottages in just 12 months. While the Coopers lived in a cattle shed, the locals put on a fundraiser at the local bowling club, raising around $11,000 to put towards the rebuilding process.
A year to the day after the fire, Mark and Sara-Jane Cooper again celebrated moving into Rosevale cottage, which has been renamed by the locals as "Coopers Cottage". Sara-Jane says she and Mark were surprised by their reaction. "Because we are new people, this was even more special to us. They used to say you weren't a local until you'd been here for three generations," she said. Loughmore Cottage has also been repaired and is now available to the public as bed and breakfast accommodation.
Rosevale is a classic settlers cottage, with a barn loft overlooking the spacious open plan living area. Loughmore Cottage is also basically one large room, with newspapers lining some of the walls, dating back to 1877.(Newspaper was commonly used in this period as an insulator). Period pieces also include an old telephone and a turn-of-the-century organ.
Cottage History
The Coopers discovered Loughmore cottage on a country trip looking for antiques. They ended up speaking to the great-granddaughter of the man who built the cottage, and she was delighted to sell. The Coopers bought the cottage for about $2,000. They dismantled it and moved it to Kangaroo Valley to be rebuilt. Loughmore took about six months to dismantle, with just Mark and Sara-Jane working on it, carefully numbering every piece, every screw and every joint.
They built Loughmore and Rosevale (a copy of a cottage found in Fullerton, NSW) at the same time, erecting the frames together, then the timber panels, etc. The couple did all the "hard yakka" themselves, referring to Australian history books for authenticity, taking a little over a year. They cut the timber themselves and used old-fashioned building techniques, in line with the pioneer cottages of the period. They also built a cottage behind Loughmore called "Rosevale Cottage".
Why did the couple build two cottages? Traditionally, in the early 1900s, families would build another small cottage at the back of their existing home if they wanted to expand. They would normally locate the kitchen in a separate cottage as that was the most common place in the home for a fire. The Coopers, in keeping with this, decided to build two cottages, originally planning to live in both (they are only a short distance apart) but now remaining in Coopers Cottage, which is large enough for their needs.
One of the reasons the couple chose to build a pioneer style cottage was because they enjoy the classic proportions and style. They tend to dislike modern homes because they feel they are built far larger than they need to be, and consume large amounts of materials. The couple are happy living in their small cottage, as they feel it is keeping that part of the unique pioneering spirit of Australia alive.
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More Info
For accommodation inquiries contact Sara-Jane Cooper,
Ph: 44 651 822.
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Disclaimer
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