Kohimarama: A suburban glade

Graham Hepburn meets two people who did such a good job of taming their back yard they won an award.

97 Edmund Street, Kohimarama.

Renovations at 97 Edmund Street had been going pretty smoothly until Tara Wardman-Reeves was three weeks away from giving birth.

She and husband Tom Reeves had conquered the rubbish dump out the back masquerading as a garden and, in anticipation of the arrival of their first child, had finished gibbing over the ceiling rafters and stripping, repainting and wallpapering the interior of their weatherboard home.

The bathroom was due to be done after the arrival of the baby except Tom stood in the bath and broke it, and when he went back in there brandishing a crowbar to sort that out, he smashed the toilet cistern and sent water spurting everywhere.

Luckily for Tom, Cameron, who is now 14 months old, was born a few days past his due date which gave him "a little bit of leeway" to get the job done before mother and son came home from the maternity ward.

Renovating the bathroom, though, was nothing compared to the task that Tara and Tom faced in sorting out the sloping garden at the rear of the house when they moved in two years ago.

"There was rubbish piled up virtually to the deck," says Tom. "When we dragged it all out we found significant parts of a BMW and bits off other vehicles.

"It was a dump when we moved in here," he says. "The owners had moved to Australia and it had been rented out for five years; there were holes in the walls and that kind of thing."

Two weeks and two skip bins of rubbish later, the couple had the section pretty much cleared. The only access to the glade, which has stands of cabbage trees, palms and a small stream, was via a rickety path. When it broke, Tom and Tara decided to give some structure to the garden by building garden beds and a scoria path retained with railway sleepers.

They sourced 180 sleepers from Taranaki, says Tom, and he and Tara's father got to work on the landscaping with the help "of some mates that we gave a couple of beers to".

They created a level area halfway down where they could entertain and children could play, and added plantings such as puka, grasses, lilies, agapanthus and flax.

On a clear winter's day the garden is dappled with light, and you can stroll beside the stream on a common walkway between the neighbouring properties which join seamlessly with the glade.

"In summer the sun follows the glade so it's just bathed in sun all day," says Tara.

"It's a lovely little escape," says Tom.

And it's one that has won them an award: the Create Your Own Eden merit award. Neighbour Jeanette Shaw had entered the city council-sponsored awards and won a silver for her work on the glade. While the judges were inspecting her efforts, they saw what Tom and Tara had done and gave them a merit award.

The couple says the glade has become common ground for the neighbourhood and the scene of get-togethers.

"We ended up having gully parties. Everyone around it would get together, especially when we had a couple of new arrivals in the neighbourhood," says Tom.

The couple anticipated spending many happy years at Edmund Street, until Tara's parents decided to sell their Titirangi waterfront property. It was an opportunity too good to miss, despite the affection they have for their home.

"My parents place is absolute waterfront," says Tara, "so if it left the family we'd never get it back again."

Still, there's always a bright side, as Tom points out: "I'm quite keen to get a couple of kayaks and a tinnie and try my hand at fishing."

Vital Statistics

SIZE: Land 865m2, house 130sq m (approx).

PRICE: CV (2002) $340,000. Auction September 7.

INSPECT: Sat/Sun 1.50-2.30pm.

CONTACT: Charles Lowndes, Bayleys, ph 528 4999 or 575 0760 bus, 0274 331341 mob; Oliver Lowndes ph 021 345 091 mob.

FEATURES: Cosy home close to the beaches in a prestigious cul-de-sac location. North facing flow to a child-safe level lawn and a rear deck overlooking an award-winning glade. Double off-street parking.