Frank Sargeson House, Takapuna

Frank Sargeson Cottage, Esmonde Road, Takapuna, Auckland, is certainly modest but it stands for a far-from-modest milestone in our literary life. As the roadside sign announces, it is where 'a truly New Zealand literature had its beginnings'.

It's a basic, down-at-heel, fibrolite bach - the sort that used to dot our coastlines, symbol of the do-it-yourself, Kiwi spirit.

Frank Sargeson lived here from 1931 until his death in 1982. Most of his literary work was written here: the short stories which became his strength and included 'Conversation with my uncle and other stories'; 'A man and his wife'; and 'That summer and other stories'. He also wrote three novels, two plays and three volumes of autobiography.

It is certainly a poignant place. His black berets, that became his signature, hang on their wall pegs in the bach and his checked woollen dressing gown is thrown over a battered old chair. On the mantlepiece over the fireplace, a light bulb has been placed in the lid of an old jam jar.

Some of his collection of books are in the bookcases that line the walls and on the small table is a well-thumbed Virgil, full of Sargeson's notes and comments.

His old Olivetti is here and so is a sea trunk (he visited Europe in 1927) and the sickle he used to attack the grass round the bach. He was an avid grower of vegetables and often sent his friends away armed with cabbage or lettuce.

Sargeson became a mentor to a whole generation of New Zealand writers - most notably, Janet Frame, who wrote her first published novel, Owls Do Cry, in a hut on the property. The hut was removed when part of the land was sold after Sargeson's death, but the patchwork quilt that Janet Frame cobbled together for Frank's bed is still there, though in need of a few stitches!

The focus of the room is the smooth wooden bench that divides the living and the kitchen areas. Here Sargeson would pour welcoming cups of tea for friends. It was also his soapbox - or pulpit - at times, when he expounded on matters literary, political or social.

Sargeson willed his home to his literary executor, Christine Cole Catley, who decided to restore it as it was in his lifetime. So the Sargeson Trust was formed to administer the property.

'We hope to train local people to act as guides so that the history of the place and its importance gets across to visitors,' said Graeme Lay, secretary of the Trust. To visit the Frank Sargeson Cottage make a booking at the Takapuna Library which is ten minutes walk away.