BY DI SNEDDON
This story has been an absolute privilege to write.
This is my first home, the home from when I was born until about the age of six.
It was the place I cuddled my first puppy, Henry our dachshund of nine lives. It was the home I remember my first Christmas in and it is so lovely to see it is being loved by a whole new family.
Sam Blatch bought the home three years ago and says the purchase was very random.
After living in Sydney and Wollongong for many years, when it came to the time when Sam was considering buying her own home she quickly realised prices were beyond her dream.
She googled properties around the place and came across Next Move’s Singleton listing in downtown Singleton. Next Move’s Sheree Klasen organised for Sam to have a look and she was up at 6am the next day to travel the two-and-a-bit hours from Sydney to take a look.
Sam’s daughters, Rhaya then 9 and Kobi 7, were excited at the yard and excited at the potential of having their own bedrooms and couldn’t wait to move in.
Since moving in, Sam has been painting the interior and that’s a work in progress. They extended the back, closed-in pergola area to across the extent of the house and did the same with the carport.
Kobi’s bedroom needs the attention of a builder to level the floor and replace some of the wall but that is on a covid-hold.
The artwork inside this home is very special. It is all original thanks to Rhaya and Kobi and there is no better place to showcase this work than on the walls.
“I figure that in a few years time they won’t be doing this and while the girls enjoy looking at their artwork it will be on the walls, hey why not?”
Much of Sam’s attention has been on the garden and you can soon see she has a love of plants. Mixing old with new plantings has filled every nook and cranny but Sam says the old fruit trees are bringing delight to many.
“I have given some lemons to mum to take to her friends and they are just loving them, making lemon meringue pies and the oranges have made their way to the Neighbourhood Centre,” Sam said.
Sam admits her home in downtown Singleton won’t be her forever home but she wants to keep it.
“I have a dream of having five acres just out of town and maybe my parents might live here, having some land has always been my dream, I want more trees and maybe a pony,” Sam said.
Sam moved to Singleton not knowing the area or any people but says the welcome has been wonderful.
Her daughters attend King Street Public School, they play sport and dance and everything is within a few minutes’ drive, not like Sydney.
“I have always felt very welcomed here, people have been just lovely,” Sam said.
“And so is this home.”
Stepping inside a home for the first time in more than 50 years is a blast from the past and there are memories but the lounge room and back yard is way smaller than five-year-old me remembers.
It is lovely to see the home continue to be loved and even more special, sharing photographs of my past with the home’s new owner.
