The story behind adjoining Palmerston homes on the market

Some say distance makes the heart grow fonder, while others say it’s important to keep your dearest friends close by.

Linda Steadman, Tony Jackson and Kim Sizer definitely fall within the latter camp.

In fact, they are so close, 19 years ago they purchased adjoining blocks in Palmerston.

The decision was partly out of convenience. Husband and wife Tony and Linda had a young daughter so the gatherings had to be at their house, while Kim wanted to enjoy dinner and wine with his friends but didn’t want to endure a long trek home.

From this dilemma, an idea was born and the friends decided to buy the two blocks of back-to-back land and then built a path connecting the two.

Both homes are now on the market, paving the way for other close friends or family to buy together and enjoy a gate connecting the two.

Linda, Tony and Kim had lived together before – the three first met at student residences in 1977.

“There was a group of us who used to do a lot of things together but the three of us seemed to most often do things together,” said Linda.

“We would all support each other. None of us had much money so we put our money together to buy food together.

“When we left student residences, we all did our own thing for a while but we always kept close.

Linda and Tony’s daughter, Merredy, called the three her “parentals”.

“Because she’s got her mum, dad and uncle and we all form a parental brigade,” said Linda.

“She’s now 25 but when our daughter was younger and would get upset, she would just walk down the path to her Uncle Kim’s.”

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Linda said Sunday night dinners became a ritual.

“Every Sunday we would all have dinner together and play games with our daughter. We started off with Uno and graduated with Mahjong when she got older,” Linda said.

“We would share a bottle of wine and have a roast or barbecue dinner and, as our daughter got older and appeared less and less, the three of us kept the tradition going.”

While Linda, Tony and Kim were close, the same could not be said for their cats.

“Kim had cats and we had cats … but they were never friends. Our cats never liked each other,” said Linda.

The three have now retired and moved to the South Coast. They still enjoy dinner and wine together often.

Next Saturday, their Palmerston homes will both be going under the hammer.

Linda and Tony’s home at 56 Sugarloaf Circle has four bedrooms, two bathrooms and sits on a 548-square-metre block while Kim’s home at 20 Bendora Crescent has three bedrooms, two bathrooms and sits on a 470-square-metre block.