Depending on the weather, sometimes she looks like she is trying to cover her naked breasts. In the winter, she seems to be shivering – surrounded by ice and snow. A tiny slender statue, she lives on a rock in one of the ponds. Today she seems to be smiling at the beauty around her – the lily pads, the overhanging foliage that give her shade, the miniature river cascading around her. Just up from her little waterfall are the glistening pond fish – lazily dozing at high noon, but sleekly darting through their watery jungle as the sun abates. In the evening, she is serenaded by the frogs, who compete for her attention. A breeze whispers. She sighs.

Dianne Bradshaw

During the two years of designing, and three years of building Oakleigh, there were many challenges. The biggest one was finding the time and energy to devote to the project while maintaining two demanding careers. Most of these challenges were to be expected – like selecting light fixtures only to discover they had been discontinued, falling in love with a floor tile and discovering that the company didn’t have enough of them. But the most unusual, most stressful, and most public was the height of the roof. I dearly wanted a room of my own where I could find peace and tranquility. And John wanted a secret passage. We combined these two desires, and created a “Serenity Room” atop the second floor. Access is by way of the secret passage (if I told you where it is, I would have to kill you!). Well, we learned the hard way that we had exceeded the allowable roof height in Hudson. Construction halted, and we appeared before the town council where we obtained a derogation , and were able to continue to build. But it was worth it – the Serenity Room is exquisite, and has a spectacular view of the waterfront from its private balcony. Serenity indeed!

Dianne Bradshaw

Well, it seems that I am to become one of the blog people (pun intended). I’ve never done this before, but I must say I am inspired by the prospect of writing about Oakleigh. When my husband and I got together in 1995, he talked a lot about designing and building his dream house. I really didn’t take it too seriously, even though he had several filing cabinets full of design books, magazines, and discs. We used to go for Sunday afternoon drives, scouting for a piece of land. John was keen on living in a forest; I longed for waterfront. And then we got lucky. An unlisted house and property were available in Hudson, on a spectacular piece of land, right on the Lake of Two Mountains. The unprepossessing house on the property was empty, but it used to belong to the famous musician Zamfir. We had the house demolished, and began to design our new home. My next blog will tell the tale of some of the challenges we overcame. Cheers!

Dianne Bradshaw