Each morning she’s there, Claire Taffe stops at the window of her cottage and watches two Shetland ponies munching grass on the neighbouring property. “I often find myself frozen in front of it, completely mesmerised by the view,” she says. “It’s like a piece of art and never ceases to make me smile.”
That’s one of many small pleasures she and her husband Kieron can now enjoy, having spent one-and-a-half tireless years giving the 150-year-old miner’s cottage in Trentham, central Victoria, a respectful restoration. The now-cosy home’s before shots certainly tell a sorry tale: rotten carpets; dark, poky spaces; interior walls on a lean and covered in rising damp; and gardens overgrown with ivy and weeds. “The house oozed historical charm and we were drawn to it in an instant, but…
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Inside Out (Digital) - 1 Issue, May 2022