The Settler's Cottage at Mahana
Last week we visited the Settler's cottage at Mahana near Upper Moutere in the South Island.
The cottage was built in 1859 for an English couple, George and Cornelia Harvey, it was built for them in eleven days. It seemed to be a typical sod cottage but I was struck by how large it is, it had several rooms downstairs and even a garage on the side for the family buggy.
Originally it only had two rooms downstairs, the kitchen dining area and the master bedroom. An attic area was later used as additional sleeping quarters. The other rooms and the garage were added later by a new owner
The walls were made from a mixture of local clay, grasses and water - they are about 48 to 61cms thick. By the begining of the First World War the cottage was in the hands of the Bensemann family, who belonged to the German settlement of Sarau or Upper Moutere.
The cottage is now maintained by The Somerset Farm Settler's Cottage Trust, they have done
a wonderful job of re-thatching and setting up the displays. The following photograph
shows some of the surrounding land and just what a hot and dry Summer we have had.
All images copyright Frances Jill Studd 2015
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