Bare remains of an old cottage or shelter in a sheep paddock. Another place we pulled off the highway on our return to Roxburgh from Fruitlands. Central Otago, New Zealand. Photos taken by me, 16 Aug 2020.
Click on ANY photo to enlarge.
In the opposite direction, on the other side of the highway …
Text and photos by Liz; Exploring Colour (2020)
Exploring Colour 
I wonder if the sheep can tell that the ruins aren’t a natural structure. My guess is no, because sheep’s minds probably aren’t capable of an abstract category like “natural.”
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Being a prey animal I imagine they view *anything* new as a potential threat until they’ve established that it’s not.. from which point they’ll be ok with it. Whether something is or isn’t ‘natural’ is probably needless detail from their perspective 🙂
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The combination of today’s sheep and yesterday’s building is so evocative. Some things endure — even if our structures don’t.
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We’ve driven past that relic many times but we’ve either not seen it in time to stop or we’ve been needing to get somewhere. So pleased to have it on record now!
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As I’ve often commented, New Zealand would be a fascinating and beautiful place to live. It’s definitely somewhere I’d love to explore!
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I hope you’ll make it here sometime, you’d really love visiting NZ.
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Oh I wish I were in New Zealand. For so many reasons.
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I understand. I wish you were here too.
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It is fascinating, Liz, to see ruins like that in the middle of a field. I can’t tell for sure if any mortar was used, but it looks like the structure was made of stacked stones, which reflects a lot of work. I can’t see evidence of a foundation or other walls, which makes me wonder if it was once some kind of monument or shrine.
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It’s most likely to have been a cottage, shepherds hut or shelter of some sort. There were sod cottages down south here which could explain the absence of other walls or the rest of the building may have been timber and burnt down – also very common!
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That makes so much sense, Liz. I hadn’t even considered the possibility that there might be structures made of sod. It is interesting how our own experience, education, and culture can cause us to frame an issue in a way that makes us blind to other possibilities. I think that is one of the reason why diversity is so important–it allows us to consider problems from multiple perspectives.
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One set of my gr-great grandparents lived in a soddy in Nebraska. Solomon Butcher photographed Nebraska in the 1800s, including this famous photo of the Crisman sisters in front of a soddy.
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Wow! And one of those sisters is a Lizzie! 😀
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That is such a cool memory. Thanks for the link to the historic photo. As I noted to Liz, I didn’t even consider the possibility of a house made of sod, probably because I grew up in the suburbs of Boston and the prairie lifestyle is utterly foreign to my experience and background.
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My thoughts were (yet again) pretty much identical to Mike’s. It looks like there’s some sort of mortar in the left third of the second view, but in could be wind-blown sand or something; your conjecture of timber construction and a fire seems quite likely. But whatever its actual past, it’s a stately relic, and it must have ghosts with stories to tell for the right listener.
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I wonder if the builder was of Scottish descent? The wall looks so like the drystone (‘drystane’) walls commonly built in Scotland. (No mortar but still very strong.) The photos do make me think of Scotland… 🙂
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A very high likelihood Ann. We stopped here on our way back from Fruitlands, and that is where Mitchells Cottage is that I’ve blogged about before – a very stunning stone cottage built by Andrew Mitchell from the Shetland Islands (he started it in 1880). Very nice photo of it at this web page
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That’s a beautifully built cottage and it does have a very Scottish look to it. I’ve a feeling that the links between the area and Scottish incomers must be strong! 🙂
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We get to hear plenty of pipe bands down south. At every A&P Show for instance – they always lead the Grand Parades at Shows!
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