ANNIE WHITTLE

Actor, singer, and comedian Annie Whittle first won television fame on 70s comedy classic A Week of It. Since then she has presented a run of shows, had her own musical special, and acted alongside the likes of Billy T James, Miranda Harcourt, George Henare, and Anthony Hopkins, as well as playing Barbara Heywood on Shortland Street. She lives in Auckland’s Waitākere Ranges with her partner Ian King, and Ted the dog.

ANNIE: In , I was about to do an ad for a dishwashing li uid that pro ided the deposit for the house. I was pregnant with my only son, and wanted a place with a bigger garden.

edidntha ealotofmoney,andpriceswere completelyincomparabletotoday. ehadbeenli ing in a three bedroom, two storey old illa in rey ynn on ose d, and by serendipity, a much smaller house with an ama ing iew came up for auction.

I was racing down to the auction room in the city, and got stopped by a cop for speeding. I was lucky he let me off.

The original cottage is nearly years old. e e added bits on, uite respectfully.

It was originally an Arts and Crafts cottage, designed by architect illiam ummer in the s. e designed for the Auckland ailway tation, the

inter ardens,andalsotherounde tensionon the Auckland useum. e s also done uite a few stately homes in emuera, psom and apier.

In those days, there were only gra el roads up here. This was his dream of a summer cottage, but no one else s. is family loathed it.

ummer was acutely aware of geography. e selected two lots our double section which is almost

ha all in all. The westerly wind hits the lower section

andgoeso erthetopofthehouse,withouthitting the garden. I can stand on the edge and watch all the pungas thrashing about, while my plants are still.

This garden is full of memories. An year old widow was li ing here. It was ery austere and managed, full of shrubs and where my garden is, there was a tennis court.

In years, it s been a labour of lo e for me.

ou ha e to make mistakes, you ha e to allow things to settle where they want to settle. If you put somethinginanditdoesntthri e,pullitoutandtry something else.

e ha e a lot of nikau, and the property is surroundedbynati es.

The garden is full of cuttings from people I know. I ha e chunks of plants from my mother in Christchurch. hen my dad died in , we took a tiny sapling of their apanese maple tree, which is now enormous, and it turns to flame in autumn.

I feel as though I know e ery plant. ardening to me, isn t a chore, but a balm.

My mother had a great love of antiques.

he wasn t a wealthy woman, but was a ery knowledgable person. he found beautiful pieces, like a writing desk that belonged to the first judge in ermont in the American ar of Independence, which I e inherited.

I lo e embroidery, the iddle ast and tra el. There are a lot of knick knacks. The house is full of stuff.

The interior of the cottage is really interesting.

It s cedar board and batten inside and out, so it looks like the inside of a ship.

All the rooms are relati ely small, so our e tensionshadtobedoneinawaythatdidnt o erwhelm the original cottage. e turned the two bedrooms into four, but still ha e the one bathroom.

When my marriage broke up, I thought: What am I going to do? Idne erbeenmore unhappy, and I went to India. I wanted to set up a little shop in Titirangi and import old Indian stuff te tilesandfurniture.

The trip was the most wonderful, enlightening thingI ee erdone. omanypeoplethereha eso little, but make so much of it.

ne o the rst ie es o ht was a itt e ar, ma e rom rass i arette tins t rea remin s me what ama in ta ente ra s eo e n ians are he an t rn nothin into somethin ost o m r s are r ish an ranian, t there are some han ones as we ve a wa s ha o s, an the on t show the hair so m h he re e treme ra ti a , as we as ivin o o r

I couldn’t bear the idea of moving, and I hope that I don’t have to. m ne t irth a hat s an a e o start thin in a o t how m h more time o ve ot on this earth, an how o on t want to eave a mess or o r i s to sort o t have so man othes ive or another 0 ears, whi h won t, wo not have eno h a s to wear them a a ain ve een thin in a o t how to ownsi e, t when o o e t thin s that are memories, it s har toivestorseromthemasemniee, whoisanarhitetra esiner,totaea m Architectural Digest o ies an interiors ma a ines hat s a start

The sitting room was originally a verandah.

e ose itinto etane traroomintheho se to enso tontotheto awn,whi h ees i e m owntheatre sanator,iteestomeie ve ot a rin si e view o an see the weather movin a ross the it an it s i erent ever a rin o ownitwas iteetraorinar e a se there s a wa s am ient noise rom the northwest motorwa t it was so in re i iet o trains, no anes, an no ars ts nn ina aeiethis,sometimes o have to remin o rse to oo at the view ee we are ver s oi t

Annie Whittle stars in Auckland Theatre Company’s comedy season of Grand Horizons by Bess Wohl, on at Auckland’s ASB Waterfront Theatre February 8 – March 5. Tickets and information atc.co.nz