Family heirloom furniture brought all the way from Switzerland has been used to refurbish a 1905 villa at Willow Bank Heritage Village to give guests an authentic Edwardian experience.
It’s the latest development at the village on the edge of Wakefield, filling the house with Edwardian treasures and taking Airbnb guests to help fund the ever-expanding village.
It was Christine Grieder’s home when she bought the property 23 years ago and ran an antique shop alongside it, before the idea of a heritage village sprouted.
Her antique shop was running out of space and she advertised for more buildings to truck to the site.
Instead of a just any old building, she ended up with a church from Collingwood St in Nelson and, as they say, the rest is history.
The village has grown to about 30 buildings that make up the ‘living museum’, mostly uplifted from the Wakefield area, and she says it will continue to grow.
“I didn’t plan anything; it just happened! As we get funds, we’ll grow more.” To help fund the village, which is now run as a trust with a mix of volunteers and paid staff, Christine’s partner Scott Anderson has spent the past six months refurbishing the four-bedroom villa.
It has the coal range stove that Christine used solely for cooking for herself, plus furniture in keeping with a house of that era.
Much of the furniture, including armoires and dressers, have travelled from Switzerland over the years, including her great-auntie’s sweets cabinet that she remembers housing treats when she was a child.
As well as the gothic-styled wooden cabinet built in the 1800s, there’re 100-year-old beds in one of the bedrooms that were built by her grandfather in Switzerland.
In another bedroom is a French-style bed that is now a family heirloom belonging to the next generation, Christine’s daughter Medea Grieder-George, who also works in the village.
“It’s nice that they’re all out on display now,” Christine says. “I think it’s a good time to get them out and use them.” The villa has not long been refurbished and has already had guests, with the first arriving unexpectedly.
“I was in the garden chasing a chook and had really ruffled hair, and he came and asked if I was the lady of the house!” she says. “He wasn’t quite sure, but they stayed.
“The next guests had seven riders and four horses!” While the villa feels Edwardian, Christine says it also has all the modern conveniences which means guests don’t have to use the coal range and they don’t have to use the wash house in the village to dip their clothes in the copper and give them a good scrub.
Christine lived in the villa for years before her son and family moved in for a period and these days she lives in the tiny cowman and gardener hut that was built on the property in 1879.
The refurbished villa can be viewed at www.willowbankwakefield.co.nz
