You think you’re buying one cottage. This Banks Peninsula property comes with two

Almost as long as there have been Pākehā in Le Bons Bay, Akaroa, there has been a little cottage at 342 Le Bons Bay Rd - just not the same one you see when you first come down the drive today.

Built some time in the late 1800s, the little blue vintage cottage was moved onto the hillside in the Bay. But if you duck through the trees at the rear of the house and make your way across the sun-dappled lawn, you’ll find a second cottage, built from rough-hewn timber, with a sweet little verandah. This is the original colonial cottage.

Owner Catherine Hamblett has had a long relationship with this part of the country. Just across the harbour is Takamatua, where her grandparents once owned a walnut farm.

"As a young child, I used to run about all over the hillsides, and as with all my cousins and uncles and aunties, and my grandparents," she says. "It's just a very special, magical location that I loved and thrived in."

In 2008, she, her husband Lee Watt, and two young children had been living in Island Bay, in Wellington, when he proposed a move south as “an experiment”. They had just been to the peninsula for a holiday, and he’d been so taken with the location, he suggested they make the move permanent.

"He just quietly said, 'How would you feel about moving to Banks Peninsula? I feel really connected to it as well. I'm not sure why, but I do. It's stunning'. He comes from Mahia, another peninsula up north, so maybe that's why?"

It was the right time to make a big move. Their eldest child had just had two years at primary school and their second was about to start. Then Hamblett spotted an advert on Trade Me.

"Le Bons Bay school was trying to increase their roll numbers and they had a couple of rental properties to try and entice people in," she says. “So we went for it and threw ourselves into the Le Bons Bay community. It's really a yummy, yummy time for our family.”

They had only been in the area for a few months, but already they were convinced this was where they were meant to be.

When one of the other parents at the local school mentioned they were putting a place on the market, Hamblett and her husband asked if they could take a look.

“I was sold the moment I started walking down the driveway,” she says. “You feel like you're going through a tunnel of bush, and then you pop out at the other end, and - woah, what a surprise! - there's this cute little cottage."

Part of that cottage was also built in the late 1800s. It had been moved from across the road and extended some time in the 1980s, and although it was in good condition, Hamblett felt it was crying out for some TLC.

With a touch of whimsy, she chose to paint it Resene Havelock blue, with Resolution Blue trim. She’s repainted it the same combination three times since they moved in.

"At that time, the kids were young, and I suppose we were young. I couldn't imagine having it any other colour."

Inside, the home is rustic and cosy, with a lived-in, country feel. There’s a log burner, with a washing rack on a pulley over it in the living room. The sofa is tucked into a bay window.

The kitchen diner opens onto a paddock garden and has sweeping views over the valley. A vintage cooker keeps the house toasty, and heats the water in the winter.

“I think lots of homes in the area still have them and use them.”

The master bedroom has French doors onto the garden. Upstairs, the children’s bedrooms are tucked under the pitched roof.

Up the hill, the second cottage sits under the shade of some mature native trees. Original to the site, locals reckon the little one-bed home was one of the first in the area. Hamblett decided to leave it looking a little more original and rustic.

“It was home to a pioneering family, and I’m not sure if it’s true or not, but I think they had a number of children living with them in it.”

The Hamblett-Watts never rented it out or used it as an Airbnb, although that could be one option for it. Instead, it was for family and friends to stay in.

"Both the kids have lived in there at different stages. In their late teens and had friends and girlfriends living with them."

Now however, the children are grown, it’s time for the family’s next adventure, so the couple has put the home on the market.

"It's a place that still needs a lot of love and attention, and I really like the idea of letting someone else, a young family, work their magic on it. There's so much potential there for the next owners.

“It's been a wonderful playground for us as a family. It's slow living at its best, a complete luxury in this day and age."

With a CV of $710,000, the home at 342 Le Bons Bay Rd, Akaroa, on Banks Peninsula is for sale by deadline that ends on March 19. The listing is with Peter Foley for Bayleys.