Maniototo Area School principal Peter Heron, his wife Debbie, and their two teenage children, Holly (17) and William (15), had lived at Waipiata in their newly purchased villa less than a month before it was burnt to the ground, along with all their possessions on the morning of August 22 last year.
Yesterday, the family returned to their 2.5ha Tregonning Rd property to watch builders prepare the site for the concrete foundations of their new home.
‘‘Everyone has been asking us ‘has it [construction] started yet' and now we can say yes,'' Mrs Heron said.
The single-storey fourbedroom house will include two living rooms, a small study, indoor garage, and the kitchen of Mrs Heron's dreams.
‘‘I let him [Peter] get away with the modern look of the house but I do love the kitchen,'' she said.
She was eager to move in as soon as possible after living in an old Waipiata school house which had been converted into Otago Central Rail Trail tourist accommodation.
‘‘We have felt a bit displaced because it's been more than a year since we've been in our own home, really. We sold our house in Auckland to rent before coming down and then lost our home here within three weeks,'' she said.
Although it was the old villa's charm which persuaded them to buy the rural property, Mr Heron said a modern home was warmer in winter and cheaper to build.
‘‘Villas are pretty but to build one according to modern specifications costs a horrendous amount and we couldn't exactly ring the insurance company and ask for a log burner in each room,'' he said.
The house will be slightly larger than the villa, and have a diesel-powered radiator system along with insulation.
Mr Heron said one of the family's pigs would be spitroasted to celebrate the completion of the new house.
Builders estimated the house would be fully constructed in four months and habitable within five months, once carpet and fittings had gone in.
In the meantime, Mr Heron planned to ‘‘potter'' at the property, which he said was the ‘‘most beautiful place you can imagine'', especially during winter when trees were bare and snow covered the surrounding hills.
Originally from Britain, the family emigrated to New Zealand three and a-half years ago, and had been living in Auckland until the Maniototo's country charm lured them south.
All four were granted New Zealand citizenship at a ceremony in Alexandra last month.
