David’s ex-display timber cabin kit, rebuilt by hand

Ready to rebuild

Back in 2012, David and Elke had 110 beautiful acres in Laguna, NSW, but it only contained trees, bush and an empty clearing that was crying out for a building.

So, they started looking – a search which took them to one of the Sydney Greenspan Display Centres.

Here, one particular building caught their eye. It was perfect.

A Cedarspan 3070, clad in Western Red Cedar weatherboard, with a decked verandah across the front. The quintessential rustic country cabin.

“I said to Doug, ‘How much is this one?’” David recalls.

And as luck would have it, it turned out that the actual building was for sale.

“We bought your ex-display cabin,” he says.

Starting in reverse

Buying a building that was already installed on another site meant the build started in reverse.

“It was already erected. The guys at Cedarspan pulled it all down, and Elke and I rebuilt it on our property,” David explains. While this might sound like a big job, it was remarkably simple.

“Doug supplied all the plans, and there was always the backup there by phone,” David tells us. “So it was all pretty straightforward.”

It was this ease of construction that appealed most to David. And this was made possible thanks to the PreCrafted modular panel system behind every Greenspan timber cabin kit.

“You can pick up a panel and bolt it together in the modular style, and away you go,” he confirms. “There’s good engineering behind it.”

Slow family weekends

Once the building was reinstalled, the internal fit-out was a slow pleasure rather than a rushed deadline or a chore.

“We escape out to the bush on weekends,” David tells us. “We do a little bit each time.”

Each weekend escape saw a little bit more completed. Every visit became a balance between time spent in the bush and time spent finishing their weekend retreat – with a rustic country cabin aesthetic to suit its bush setting.

Set on 110 bushland acres in the Wollombi Valley, the cabin is a long way from Sydney – which was the whole point. It’s a place where the children learned way of life, where the family reconnected, and where memories were made.

“They learned how to drive out there,” David recalls fondly.

Trip after trip

With a setting like this, a self-built cabin from a kit, and a slower pace of life at the end of every drive, we can see why David and Elke kept going back, weekend after weekend, year after year. And they’d recommend it to anyone considering doing the same.

“If you can handle being out in nature and not having a coffee shop around the corner. Do it! Personally, I enjoy the bush,” David tells us.

If a country escape is on your mind but you need more convincing, our pick of six cosy cottages will inspire your country getaway.

And while they may have since sold the property on to new owners, the fact remains… it was all made possible by chance, with a well-timed trip to a Display Centre and the rare opportunity to buy an ex-display cabin kit.

All measurements are approximate.