Restoring the glory

From weddings and post-election parties to storms and bankruptcies,
this magnificent heritage home has seen it all.

The word “pelerin” has Middle English roots and means pilgrim or traveller. It is a name befitting one of the most prestigious heritage homes in the Hunter, Singleton’s Victorian era homestead, Pelerin.

Pelerin has travelled through and stood the test of time, providing the stage for the ups and downs in the lives of generations of homeowners, going through destruction and rebuild, surviving storms and flooding and even being converted into apartments.

It is impossible not to be touched bythe calm and serenity of its mature, beautifully landscaped gardens and the symmetrical façade that still retains a host of period features.

It is eerily similar to the building that can be seen in sepia coloured photos from a century ago. Nothing, it seems can ruffle the feathers of this mature beauty – not even the onslaught of Pasha Bulka on 7 June 2007; the very day the current owners, John and Christine Henderson, settled on their purchaseof Pelerin.

“The real estate agent met us at the house, gave us the keys, and said congratulations. But he was a bit edgy,” Christine recalls. “As we walked through the front door, all we could hear was plip, plop, plip, plop. And I said, “what on earth is that noise?” He said not to worry because he had put out buckets. And, indeed he had – a total of seven. We couldn’t really linger for too long because we needed to get back to Sydney and we knew the roads were about to be closed.

“But we came back and moved in as soon as the highways re-opened about a week later.”

Read more in the Summer issue of Hunter & Coastal Lifestyle Magazine or subscribe here. 

Story by Cornelia Schulze, photography by Joshua Hogan and Stuart Scott