This couple gave away their Cayucos cottage to anyone who could move it

Cayucos residents were treated to a rare sight Monday: a 400-square-foot cottage rolling down the street on its way to a new home.

The house, originally at 310 Birch St., was being moved to a new spot on 10th Street after its previous owners decided they had different plans for their property.

Scott James said he and his wife Gayle bought the one-room house in 2011, when they intended to relocate from Paso Robles to the coast to get away from the heat. That didn’t pan out as planned, and recently they decided they would build a new, larger house on their lot instead.

That left the question of what to do with the little cottage, built in the 1950s.

“Gayle didn’t want to tear it down and take it to the dump,” James said. “It’s too nice to tear down.”

So instead, the couple posted a listing for it online, saying the house was free to whoever wanted it, as long as they could move it off the property, and as long as “they were going to use it, and not demolish it,” he said.

From there, they were contacted by a woman interested in the house for her son, who is attending Cal Poly.

“You know how unaffordable it is to live in San Luis,” James said. “So she’s going to use it as a house for her son while he is in school.”

On Monday, the building was carefully moved through town with the help of Brandt House and Building Movers.

James said the moving experience was busy but exciting, especially the moment the house was being driven away.

“It was fun to see it rolling down the block on its way to 10th Street,” he said. “We’re just tickled to death that it’s going to be given a new life.”

This story was originally published November 7, 2017 at 3:07 PM with the headline "This couple gave away their Cayucos cottage to anyone who could move it."