Over a century of character, beautifully brought into the present. Built in 1920, this lovingly restored cottage holds onto everything worth keeping — exquisite original timber floorboards, nine-foot ceilings, traditional dado boards and a wraparound verandah catching the eastern morning sun — while the work of bringing it into modern life has already been done. Freshly painted and presented spectacularly, it has all the soul and romance of an old home, without asking its next owners to take on the project.

Four generous bedrooms sit at the front before the home unfolds into a remarkably large central living room, open dining and a beautifully updated kitchen with breakfast bar, complemented by a second family room and stylish new bathroom. Air conditioning and ceiling fans throughout, together with a gas fireplace, make it wonderfully comfortable through every season. Mornings belong on the verandah with coffee in the sun; afternoons drift out to the alfresco and outdoor kitchen, overlooking a newly landscaped backyard with ornamental pears, fruit trees and a firepit — with room left for the pool you might one day add.

Then comes one of the home's greatest surprises — the sheer scale of the garaging. A huge 7.5m x 7.5m garage with a further 7.5m x 7.5m carport gives you an extraordinary amount of space for cars, a boat, workshop and everything else life collects. Rarely does the romance of a century-old cottage come with quite this much practicality.

And all of it sits in sought-after South Cessnock, a peaceful neighbourhood just 250 metres from the main street, where coffee or groceries are an easy walk from home. Bushland trails and sporting fields are just as close in the other direction, while less than ten minutes away, Pokolbin opens into some of the Hunter Valley's finest cellar doors and restaurants.

All the character you hoped to find, with none of the work you expected to come with it. Best of all, in the sought after Southy locale.