Nicole Mercer certainly can.

A little over a year ago, Mrs Mercer and husband Matthew packed up their six children and moved from a trendy beach-front Melbourne suburb to the tiny town of Cumnock near Orange.

They did so largely because of Christine Weston.

Mrs Weston was the brains behind a unique scheme where rundown farmhouses were offered to out-of-town families like the Mercers for $1 a week rent on the condition they renovate the homes and involve themselves in the community.

Mrs Weston was this week named NSW Woman of the Year for her role in devising the inspiring scheme.

“She very quickly became a role model for everyone out here, someone who inspired me and my husband but also someone who very quickly became a very good friend,” Mrs Mercer said yesterday.

“Every sentence she comes out with is never about her, it’s always ‘what can I do to help you’?

“Because of her there is always something going on out here, something to be proud of about Cumnock.

“She’s just wonderful, everyone out here is thrilled she’s got the recognition she deserves.”

Wonder-woman is a term Christine Weston is having a little trouble getting used to.

“If you had told me 15 months ago this is what would end up happening I’d have never believed you,” Mrs Weston said yesterday.

Being stuck in traffic in Sydney yesterday morning was a reminder of why the rent-a-farmhouse scheme is so successful in luring tree changers to the region, she said.

The scheme’s website has registered 30,000 hits in the last 12 months from people intrigued by the prospect of a regional lifestyle and attracted to weekly rents less than the cost of a cup of coffee.

“The amount of people and traffic and noise and pollution, it makes me think my goodness this is why I don’t live down here,” she laughed.

“Hopefully this will help me encourage more people to get out of that environment and come over the mountains to Cumnock and Orange and see what we’re all about.”