For former teachers, Lydia and Allen, a Gold Coast retirement was pleasantly interrupted by the birth of their first grandchild.
When they visited the Gold Coast to meet up with their eldest son Rhett who was filming at Mt Tambourine, Lydia and Allen fell in love with the location and the lifestyle. Eight years on and the couple decided to relocate back to Adelaide to be close to their first grandchild, Saskia.
“Younger son Brynn and his partner in Adelaide had started their family and, rather than commute between the Gold Coast and Adelaide numerous times a year, we relocated back to South Australia,” Lydia explains.
Rentals at the time were hard to come by, and the couple leapt at the chance to secure a place unseen in Mount Barker, even though the hills suburb wasn’t a considered option.
“After spending some time here, we surprised ourselves by really liking the place and subsequently began our search for land in the area,” says Lydia.
The couple wanted a block that offered more space than those in the ‘big smoke’, Adelaide. The larger blocks available at Newenham fitted the bill nicely.
“Newenham stood out as the place where we would not be living on top of each other. Along with space for a garden, our home is in a countrified setting with greenery all around and birds waking us in the mornings,” says Lydia.
Although both are retired teachers with international experience, Allen has a previous connection with the area.
“I’ve been a teacher since leaving Wattle Park Teachers’ College and taught mostly in Adelaide’s north eastern suburbs, but I had done a year at Mount Barker South Primary School. I also drove taxis while studying,” he explains.
As well as being a teacher specialising mainly in music and art, Lydia, too, drove taxis on the weekend. Her journey to Australia has been colourful, to say the least, having left Latvia with her family as refugees during WW2. She then spent almost seven years in displaced persons camps before arriving in Australia at the end of 1950.
“I’ve lived in New York (modelling for Domani Furs on 7th Ave and as secretary to the Director of Physical Education at the West Side YMCA) until flying home for my mother’s unexpected funeral. I also spent six months in Singapore as a sales rep for George Newnes publishers while waiting for a vacancy to return to teaching in Adelaide,” Lydia says.
The couple met at a ‘release-time’ librarianship course at Flinders Uni at a time when the State needed librarians to establish resource centres and libraries in schools. After long, distinguished teaching careers, the respected couple were attending a staff Christmas party when offered the opportunity to teach in China.
As Lydia explains, “An international school in Ningbo in the Zhejiang province had bought the rights to the South Australian primary school curriculum and wanted Australian staff to implement it to teach the children of foreign ex-pats.”
“It was a wonderful experience, and we made numerous friends among the local people. In fact, in just our second week we went to a Chinese wedding of people we didn’t even know but were invited by the ‘matchmaker’!” she says.
Back home, Allen and Lydia are now firmly entrenched in their Newenham property. However, it has taken a while for Lydia to come to an ‘understanding’ with the local wildlife over access to her garden.
“I am an animal lover, and ducks are no exception, but not on my Dichondra lawn. It was a case of war when they decided to mow our lawn to the ground. I did everything to protect the emerging Dichondra from marauding ducks! Fortunately, the ducks have moved on, and we now have a beautiful lawn that needs no mowing and doesn’t provide duck dinners,” Lydia quips.
The retired couple are no strangers to building. This is their third custom-built home, the first being at Highbury early in their married life. When their adult sons left home, Lydia and Allen moved to Magill and built an architect-designed house.
“We loved and wanted to replicate our previous home here, but there are a couple of alterations this time around,” Allen says. “Adelaide Designer Homes built our current house with a different layout but the same details that we wanted.”
Now completed, they are delighted with their new home. An open plan, single-storey house featuring three bedrooms, one of which is used as a study. There are two bathrooms and a living space incorporating media viewing, dining and living areas. One design feature, however, proved to be a bit challenging.
“We had a lot of resistance to floor-to-ceiling windows throughout, but that was a non-negotiable part of the design we felt we couldn’t live without. Consequently, we’ve settled on having double-glazed Viridian glass to meet government requirements,” says Lydia.
Lydia and Allen are treasuring life at Newenham. Their property has a rustic outlook, and they love seeing the cows and their calves on the other side of the creek. They also appreciate Newenham’s philosophy of preserving the trees and embracing the natural environment while creating amenities that complement the surroundings.
“The icing on the cake was the opportunity to acquire a block facing the creek and Linear Park with a pathway that meanders its way into Mount Barker’s central area,” say Lydia. “Our city visitors often comment on the peaceful atmosphere here.”
The tight-knit and friendly community was another influencing factor that sealed the couple’s decision to embrace the Newenham lifestyle.
“We treasure the Newenham community. We not only know our neighbours but we look out for each other and share meals at each others’ homes! We share and exchange plants and home grown produce and borrow sugar (or whatever we’ve run out of),” says Lydia.
And, they’re impressed with the list of established and planned features for Newenham, including the Linear Park, school, local shops, community farm and market café, community events, and proximity to Mount Barker.
“We’re looking forward to having local corner shops so that I don’t have to borrow ingredients too many times; I don’t want to give an impression of being too disorganised!” says Lydia.
Hills living seems to agree with Lydia and Allen as they visit and experience the many stunning locations and local businesses that are a drawcard to residents and city-dwellers alike. They especially enjoy introducing friends to their favourite places.
As Allen explains, “Not being wine buffs, we don’t often frequent wineries, although we enjoy the odd outing to Anderson Hill Cellar Door Restaurant at Lenswood. We also love the ambience and the food at Oak and Iron (Auchendarroch House), as do many of our friends.”
“Stirling Markets is another of our favourite retail therapy outlets,” Lydia adds.
While travel seems to be off the table, for now, Lydia and Allen are enjoying their new home, wide-open spaces, and exploring Newenham with their granddaughter, Saskia. There always seems to be something on the go.
As Lydia sums up, “When Allen and I retired from teaching (and after returning from China), we wondered what we would do with all the spare time we anticipated having. Ha, ha! What spare time?!”
If you’d like to know more about joining our tight-knit and growing community or securing your future at Newenham, simply contact our Sales Team on 0429 107 497 or on sales@newenham.com.au.
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We look forward to welcoming you to Newenham soon.
