{"id":7519,"date":"2016-09-18T07:00:31","date_gmt":"2016-09-18T06:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/janetgover.com\/?p=7519"},"modified":"2020-12-30T15:44:54","modified_gmt":"2020-12-30T15:44:54","slug":"the-one-day-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/?p=7519","title":{"rendered":"The \u2018one day\u2019 house"},"content":{"rendered":"

We all have them – the \u2018one day\u2019 house. Go on\u2026 confess. I bet you have one too.<\/p>\n

\u2018One day \u2013 when I win the lottery\u2026.\u2019 or \u2018One day when I am fabulously rich\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n

It\u2019s otherwise known as the dream house. I think I started designing the house of my dreams when I was about eleven or twelve. Living in Queensland where it\u2019s hot, and being a bit of a history nut, my dream house was always going to be a lovely colonial building \u2013 with wide verandas, and high ceilings, and stables and lawns and\u2026.<\/p>\n

I found it recently. Someone else had built it for me.<\/p>\n

\"homestead\"<\/p>\n

I was doing some research and google brought up a link to Gabbinbar Homestead<\/a>, a wedding venue in my old home town of Toowoomba. As I was in the neighbourhood, I contacted them to see if they were willing to show me around. Not that I needed to book a wedding of course \u2013 but for book research. They were very happy to oblige.<\/p>\n

\"If
If I was looking for a wedding venue though – how perfect would this be? This is the bride’s retreat.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The homestead is beautiful. It was built in 1863, which for this part of Australia, makes it a very old building indeed. In the 1800\u2019s it was used at a summer residence of the state\u2019s governors. It did fall into disrepair \u2013 but has now been lovingly restored.<\/p>\n

\"I'm
I’m thinking canapes and a G&T as the sun goes down.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When I was young, my dream house had stables. This homestead has stables too, but while mine were going to be full of beautiful horses, these are used as a backdrop for the wedding photographers. There\u2019s even an old chapel \u2013 and it\u2019s been left largely untouched, creating a lovely atmosphere.<\/p>\n

\"The
The old chapel. What stories those walls could tell.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A lot of my UK friends imagine that it never (well almost never) rains in Australia \u2013 and of course that\u2019s not the case. So while outdoor weddings are popular, there has to be a plan B.<\/p>\n

\"The
The pavilion is a modern addition, but blends beautifully into the grounds.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And as for the ballroom \u2013 I could so imagine ladies in glorious gowns dancing there.<\/p>\n

\"I
I could hear the music just standing there.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The suburbs have now enclosed the homestead, but the beautiful grounds still give that feeling of privacy \u2013 although the staff told me they had to get rid of their peacocks because the neighbours complained about the noise. I\u2019ve heard peacocks calling \u2013 and I totally understand.<\/p>\n

But with or without peacocks, the homestead is lovely\u2026 and was perfect for the research I was doing. So thanks to the lovely Elizabeth for showing me around. My writer\u2019s brain is now wandering through those rooms, talking to invisible people and hearing their stories.<\/p>\n

For me, this\u00a0 is\u00a0how books start.<\/p>\n

\"The
The gentlemen can retire to the library – now I wonder what they talked about…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We all have them – the \u2018one day\u2019 house. Go on\u2026 confess. I bet you have one too. \u2018One day \u2013 when I win the lottery\u2026.\u2019 or \u2018One day when I am…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,3,6,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-australia","category-history","category-my-travels","category-writing"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7g6jm-1Xh","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7519"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8998,"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7519\/revisions\/8998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}