Though the home was completely derelict the couple purchased the home and moved to Carcoar from Avalon.

‘It was just so different and it was calling to me,” Mrs Pickett said.

Calling the house as it was then a shambles is an understatement, floorboards were missing, the walls and ceilings were cracking and foundations were moving, but with the help of Tablelands Building in Bathurst, the building was brought back to life.

“We started at the back and worked forwards and now over a period of ten years, we’ve brought the place back to its original condition,” Mrs Pickett said.

Brick by brick the builders restored the building to such a high level that the building has been awarded a Heritage Certificate by the Bathurst National Trust for a sensitive and sympathetic restoration of an important historical building.

All the bricks were reused and to solve the foundation problems, builder Rob Barlow dug in hard.

“There was an old joinery or a tannery nearby and when it was demolished all the material went under this house, under the hallway, into the cellar and it was exerting great pressure on the foundations,” he explained.

“Once that was shovelled out manually, the lack of pressure solved the problems with the high ceilings and everything stabilised.”