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Why Highway location spells good Business
Michael and Barbara Godford see great potential for Glen Innes because of its strategic location at the intersection of the New England and Gwydir Highways and purchases a highway-located motel.
The Godfords’ bought the motel, the Alpha, on the New England Highway, three years ago and builder Michael also converted the adjoining disused service station into a dining room/lounge for guests.
Michael and Barbara visited Glen Innes from Brisbane, where they lived for eight years, when the motel came on the market. After they decided to buy it, their longtime friends Sheryle and Stephen Wieden also, as Barbara puts it, “reassessed their lives ” and relocated to the town.
Stephen and Michael are back working together as builders while Barbara runs the motel and Sheryle has joined the new, state-of-the-art Woolworths.
“We got sick of the traffic and all the stress in Brisbane,” Barbara, 49, says. “We love it here. We grew up in the country; I came originally from a Moree sheep and cattle farm and Michael was from Roma.
“I have always been in the hospitality industry. I love the motel and meeting people, the same people and reps come every year. We have built up the business, it has a lot of potential.
“We’re booked out every year for the Australian Celtic Festival and the other major festivals, Land of the Beardies and Minerama fossicking and gem show. The Visitor Information Centre is a fantastic support – the staff know the district and they tell visitors all they want to know.
“People say Glen Innes is ‘cold’ in winter, but you rug up, light the fire and by 8am it’s beautiful. What appeals most is the laidback lifestyle, the people are easygoing whereas in the city they are too busy with their lives to care.”
Michael Godford’s hobby is photography and he says with Glen Innes district’s topography, wildlife and climate, “there’s no place on the planet like it.”
As a builder, he has found “there seems to be less redtape and more efficiency in dealing with Council.”
Michael, 48, agrees with Barbara about the relaxed pace of life: “Sunday morning here is like a real Sunday morning - it’s still quiet at 8am.”
In their leisure time, Michael and Barbara like to drive to neighbouring towns for dinner, such as Tamworth, a little more than two hours away, Armidale, an hour, or even return to Brisbane for a visit, a little more than four hours.
All thanks to that strategic highway location.
‘Why wouldn’t you buy a home in Glen Innes?’
“The real estate prices in Glen Innes are fantastic – why wouldn’t you want to buy here?”
That’s how Sheryle Wieden, a former property manager with a Brisbane real estate firm, sums up the market in Glen Innes.
Sheryle and her builder husband Stephen, both 50, bought a block of two flats, one gutted by fire, for $55,000 and are renovating the building into a family home with four bedrooms, spacious new kitchen/family room, two bathrooms and huge entertaining deck. After the first stage of renovating the home is valued at
$240,000.
They discovered Glen Innes along with long-time friends, Stephen’s builder-partner Mick Godford and his wife Barbara when the four were looking for a place to retire.
“Stephen and I have bought and sold many times in past years,” Sheryle recalls. “We lived mainly in Queensland, at Roma, Toowoomba, Sunshine Beach (Noosa) and for 10 years in Brisbane.
“I found Brisbane’s constant noise and traffic stressful. Glen Innes offers a quieter lifestyle, it’s casual – things just don’t happen in a hurry. It reminds me of Grenfell, a small country town near Orange, where I was born and spent my very early years.
“You can breathe such fresh air here and with it there are the blossoms and colours of the trees. All these things would have to be good for one’s health – we will probably add 10 years to our life by being here.”
“We have also been lucky medically with great doctors and dentists available. We’re pleased to have a great working hospital without the long waiting list that goes with living in the city with large populations.”
The Wiedens’ home is directly opposite the Glen Innes District Hospital with sweeping parklands nearby - which Sheryle says are “simply beautiful.”
They have four grown-up children and four grandchildren living in Queensland “and since Glen Innes has Broadband/Internet we are able to keep in touch with them through modern technology and webcaming.”
Sheryle works for the new, $10million Woolworths supermarket which opened late last year which, as she notes, has given the town a choice, with Bi-Lo and IGA supermarkets.
Her husband Stephen worked first for a local builder, now he and partner Mick Godford are back working together as they had done in past years.
“We have enough work to keep us going – there comes a time in life when you stop chasing [a lot] of money and find your niche in life,” Stephen says. “Glen Innes offers everything we need as far as work goes.”
Of the town, he says, “We just fell in love with the place. The people were very friendly …it’s a very easy town to live in.”
While it’s now been two years since the Wiedens bought their property, Glen Innes still offers, says Sheryle, “bargains and investment opportunities.”
Family found a unique home in Glen Innes
When Danny Raymond and his partner Cheryl went looking for a house in Glen Innes, in the New England Tablelands of northern New South Wales, they were surprised to find an imposing, two-storey, former bank building, built in 1884, for sale in the CBD.
“We were lucky,” he recalls. “It was a unique opportunity - and at a very realistic price.”
It now houses their two businesses, a civil engineering and environmental consultancy and a graphic design and communications studio as well as being home for the couple and their 12 year old son Ben.
With spacious office accommodation, the heritage-listed building additionally has a retail showroom, and a five-bedroom residence with high, pressed metal ceilings, original staircases and polished floors.
The family moved from Brisbane, which had been their base for many years, although his profession had taken Cr Raymond – he serves on Glen Innes Severn Council and several community organisations – to Darwin, Tonga, China, Indonesia and Thailand.
“I had been travelling through Glen Innes for some 15 years on the way to the National Folk Festival in Canberra and as a family we often stopped in Glen Innes overnight,” Cr Raymond, 55, said.
With four grown-up daughters and only Ben still at home they were looking “to move out of the city to a place where we could put down real roots and establish a base.”
Glen Innes appealed because of its “clear skies, no pollution, more or less equal distance between Brisbane and Sydney, relative safety from climate change and cost of living lower than the city.”
The quality of education also “exceeded expectations” with Ben achieving joint dux of Glen Innes Public School last year.
Cr Raymond’s civil engineering business specialises in sustainable design and development. “With communications and the Internet we can work anywhere and enjoy this kind of lifestyle,” he says.
He points out a range of business and industry opportunities in Glen Innes and district. Although there is currently no air service he sees much potential through utilisation of “a very good airport capable of landing large jets,” pointing out also industrial areas are close by.
“Glen Innes has plenty of land, power, good water and a green - sustainable - attitude,” Cr Raymond adds. “It’s also an incredibly safe place with a low crime rate. Everyone seems to care about their community.”
Any regrets about moving from the city?
Danny Raymond is emphatic: “It’s the best thing we’ve ever done for the three of us.”
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