Highfield cottage is one of 5 cob cottages in the Burkes Pass area. It is on Horwell Downs Station near the start of the Mt Dobson Ski Road.

It was built in the 1870's with Donald and Helen Bain being the original occupiers and then passed through a number of owners.

The Highfield Cottage project started in 1996, before the Burkes Pass Heritage Trust had formed, when the owners Garth  and Bev Hurst indicated that the cottage was becoming derelict. "If you want it you can have it", Garth told Jane! Jane and Graham Batchelor had just completed restoration of Alma Cottage (well almost) and were not particularly looking for another major job, but went down to make a closer assessment. They had spied this cute cottage through the trees many times when travelling up to Mt Dobson Ski Area.  After receiving so much help restoring the cob work on Alma Cottage from David Studholm, his team and many others and having acquired the necessary skills, a decision was made - "We will stop it falling down and do enough work to protect it for the future".

A quick look showed that indeed it needed immediate work to survive and was in quite a sorry state. A new cob wall was needed to replace one the that had slumped through getting wet from leaking gully, holes in the cob walls needed repairing, the roof needing looking at and some spouting was required to stop water running down the walls. Drainage was needed to stop water running under the house. In addition a fence was wanted to keep stock out and the encroaching trees cut back.

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Highfield is about 7 km towards Fairlie from Burkes Pass on highway 8.
Highfield Cottage belongs to Garth and Bev Hurst of Horwell Down Station. To visit Highfield Cottage you should contact Jane Batchelor (BPHT chairperson) jbatch@clear.net.nz or phone 03 3481531 Chch  03 6856271 Burkes Pass