Some properties come with a floorplan. This one comes with a plot-twist and a ready-to-live-in studio while you design the rebuild.
In the picturesque Southern Barossa, at 319 Williamstown Road, Cockatoo Valley, a long driveway lined with gum trees leads you to two stories in one: an 1890s stone cottage - now a character-rich shell with a concrete slab, and a freshly finished, studio-style dwelling that the owners converted into a charming family home after a fire changed everything.
The 1890s stone cottage is currently uninhabitable following an electrical fire. Picture: realestate.com.au
“I like to say we bought the house off Facebook Marketplace," laughed owner Jade as the told realestate.com.au the origin story.
It started with a garden arbour purchase, then a half-joking line to the seller on pick-up: “Can I buy your house as well as the arbour?!”
She replied: “Funnily enough, yes - it’s going to go on the market soon.” It sold to someone else, fell through three months later, and Jade and her partner got the call. Off-market. Destiny vibes.
The one acre property includes the cottage plus a freshly finished three-bedroom studio dwelling and shed. Picture: realestate.com.au
They bought the property for the stone cottage, originally built in the 1890s.
“We just loved it… the stone front and the back that had been extended.”
They soon renovated parts of it - painting, reflooring, and making plans to knock down the entire extension and rebuild.
“We had plans ready to go,” she said. “Two weeks before we engaged a builder, the fire happened.”
Buyers can plan their dream restoration project while living onsite in the modern studio. Picture: realestate.com.au
It was an electrical fire - a flickering downlight, they suspect. That morning, they somehow slept through the alarms with three kids in the house.
“We were running late for school, and I decided… let’s just take it easy and get to school late.”
They popped to Woolies. When they returned, the house was on fire.
“If your house was going to burn down, it was the best possible way,” she said. “No one got hurt - not even our budgie.”
The former photography studio has been fitted out with french doors, bay windows and timber flooring. Picture: realestate.com.au
And then came the silver lining: Jade’s photography studio, which they’d been slowly fitting out as a future Airbnb, suddenly became their lifeboat.
“We had planned it for the future but suddenly thought, let’s do it now and we can live in it!”
The property offers income potential as short-term accomodation. Picture: realestate.com.au
Two split-system units keep the studio temperature comfortable year-round. Picture: realestate.com.au
Timber floors, lined walls, French doors, a full kitchen – it became a light-filled, stylish base camp while the bigger dream takes shape.
“We’ve decided to move to Queensland for a lifestyle change,” she said. “After the fire we had no furniture, and we just thought… honestly, what better time?”
There's plenty of outdoor space for the kids including a veggie patch and cubby house. Picture: realestate.com.au
Outside, it’s the kind of block kids would draw: 4,620sqm (just over an acre), veggie planters, established fruit trees, lawn, a cubby house, and plenty of room for animals and sunflowers - all set in that sweet Southern Barossa pocket between Lyndoch, Williamstown and Gawler.
“The location is one of the best things about it,” Jade added.
The property is heading to online auction on 27 February, and Jade’s hope is simple: “I really hope someone rebuilds the cottage and keeps the stone. My ideal would be a young family like ours who can live in the studio, save money while building the cottage to their imagination - and then rent the studio out as an Airbnb. Income-generating.”
A long gumtree-lined driveway leads up to the home. Picture: realestate.com.au
For Jade, it’s the survival of the original stonework that still feels most remarkable.
“Thank goodness the shell still stands, in miraculous condition, ready for an imaginative renovation. It’s a good reminder that stone really does last forever.”
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