Restored home to become B&B

Five years after it was moved in sections from Queenstown to Ladies Mile, Laurel Bank House - which turns 120 this year - is set to re-enter the visitor accommodation market.

Owners Sheena Haywood and Stephen Brent have been working on the historic homestead since 2007, painstakingly restoring the once decrepit and unrecognisable home to its former glory.

Last week, the couple invited those who had helped over the past five years to celebrate the milestone and christen the new deck, built by Mr Brent, a lawyer by day.

Speaking to the Otago Daily Times, Mr Brent said he taught himself to build the deck by watching a video on Youtube.

With help from architects, builders, interior designers and landscapers, the couple have turned themselves into DIY gurus to refurbish the home, originally built in 1892 as a boarding house.

Initially, the home featured five guest rooms, increased to eight in 1905 when the luxury of a bathroom with hot and cold water was added.

In the 1920s, Eileen and Harold Overton bought the home, running it as hostel accommodation, closing it at Easter and reopening at Labour Day weekend.

The Overtons sold the house in 1938 and it passed through several owners before it was eventually split in two and rented as flats.

For years it sat on the corner of Frankton Rd and Stanley St, abandoned, before the site was purchased by Perron Laurel Ltd, which had been granted consent to establish a 105-room accommodation complex for workers on the section.

The plan was to retain part of the house, moving it elsewhere, and demolish the rest.

However, the couple - who won the environmental and heritage category for their work on Laurel Bank in the 2007 Queenstown Lakes District Council Heart of the District Awards - stepped in to save the entire property.

Ms Haywood, who has opened up the home before Christmas in recent years, said the idea for the bed and breakfast stemmed from functions held in the home late last year.

"In November we hosted Steve's parents joint 60th [birthdays] - that was 55 people for a sit-down dinner and it was amazing, it went really well.

"Then at Christmas I thought I'd do high teas, so we had three high teas and they were unbelievable."

With the restoration nearing completion, Ms Haywood said thoughts had turned to the future of the home and the decision was made to turn it into a "historical B&B" and market it primarily to golfers.

They hope to use all four guest rooms in their new venture, naming each after people of significance to Laurel Bank.

"One guest suite will be the Overton Suite ... one of the others might be the Carole-Anne Room [named after one of Ms Haywood's closest friends].

"It's full-steam ahead getting it done and juggling [other commitments] around it."

Ms Haywood hoped to have Laurel Bank House B&B open this spring.

The property would not require resource consent to operate as a bed and breakfasts as fewer than five guests could be accommodated.