There's a phrase Paul Darmody returns to time and time again when rhapsodising on Bungendore: location, location.
The born and bred local has owned the Bungendore Country Butchery for 22 years. It's location, location that brings people to Bungendore and location, location that makes them stay.
![Bungendore butcher Paul Darmody.](/web/20170126021154im_/http://www.canberratimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/0/z/p/9/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gt9jmm.png/1485262581749.jpg)
"The town's growing and people enjoy living here and if you don't you live somewhere else, don't you?" he said.
"It's a simple philosophy."
Attracted by the promise of better value property, an ingrained sense of community and space to roam, hordes of Canberra workers are making the move across the border.
It's an interesting - and relatively busy - place for realtors to work, according to Ray White Bungendore principals Doug and Ellie Merriman, who say business is booming.
Recently, the pair sold a block of land for $280,000 and a house for $2.85 million. In one week, Mr and Mrs Merriman sold nine properties.
"It's not that it's cheaper, it's better value," Mrs Merriman said.
![Bungendore Wood Works Gallery owner David MacLaren.](/web/20170126021154im_/http://www.canberratimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/0/z/o/z/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gt9jmm.png/1485262581749.jpg)
"You're still getting a good house, it's not necessarily a cheaper house, but an equivalent house on more land."
Mr and Mrs Merriman moved to Bungendore from Sydney about 14 years ago after falling in love with the town's sense of community.
![Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council Deputy General Manager Peter Bascomb](/web/20170126021154im_/http://www.canberratimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/0/z/n/9/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gt9jmm.png/1485262581749.jpg)
Their kids grew up able to walk or ride their bikes to their friends' places. Their butcher - Mr Darmody - knows which cuts of meat they prefer. When they ring to book a spot for dinner at the pub (not always necessary, they admit), there's no need to state their name. You could never feel lonely in a small town, Mrs Merriman said.
"People always say to us ... 'You're crazy, why would you leave Sydney?' but we never think about going back," she said.
![Bungendore Ray White real estate agents Ellie and Doug Merriman](/web/20170126021154im_/http://www.canberratimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/0/z/o/9/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gt9jmm.png/1485262581749.jpg)
"We're more like, 'Why would we want to go back'. It's just a really nice place to be."
It's the sense of community that brings many in. But it's the perceived loss of it that worries some residents.
![An expanded IGA will open later in 2017.](/web/20170126021154im_/http://www.canberratimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/j/f/0/q/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gt9jmm.png/1485262581749.jpg)
In 1977, David MacLaren moved from bustling Manhattan to the decidedly quieter Bungendore in pursuit of a more simple and sustainable lifestyle.
Almost 40 years later and the NSW town has grown and changed significantly.
"People say 'I just don't know people in town any more', there's a lot of strangers," said the softly-spoken founder of the iconic Bungendore Wood Works Gallery.
Peter Bascomb said the freshly-minted Queanbeyan-Palerang Council was keenly aware of the angst caused by the shift in the town's physical and social structure.
"There's a range of opinions and some people will argue any new subdivision or new housing is making the place look like Gungahlin when the average lot size in Gungahlin is 400m₂ and the average lot size here is 800m₂," the council's deputy general manager said.
"It's not like Gungahlin but I understand what they're trying to say in terms of it's not what we've moved here for.
"It's a constant struggle. We go out to community consultation and ask what they want and they say things like high schools and better medical services, public transport, better playing fields. All that comes with growth."
But perhaps the biggest impediment to growth is water supply. Bungendore is allocated enough water to service 5000 people. It's enough for now - the 2011 census listed the population as 2754 - but with population projections of up to 12,000, it's an issue on the council's mind.
"The question is if we're going to do any expansion of the village with new greenfields we have to secure additional water licence," Mr Bascomb said.
"To do that we have to prove there is more water than we currently think there is in the aquifers or there's an alternative aquifer."
Larger-scale developments are unable to get the green light until an alternative water source is found. The council has funded the drilling of 10 test holes to locate a new supply, hoping to tap into a fractured rock aquifer.
"Without additional water, we can't expand the town effectively, unless it's an expansion in the form of those who have become self-reliant through rainwater and so forth which would be very difficult to achieve," Mr Bascomb said.
There's also shortages of what the council calls soft infrastructure. The town has become home to a Priceline pharmacy and will soon welcome a much larger IGA in a nod to its booming population. But there's no high school, ambulance station or dedicated fire and rescue facility, while the childcare and pre-school both have waiting lists.
"At the moment we don't have a solution but we're going to have to get a solution for the current population, let alone for any growth that might occur," Mr Bascomb said.
"All those things need to happen, but they're being dealt with and will be dealt with."
Mr Darmody said residents were dealing with the growth too. Everyone no longer knows everyone, he said, but people were willing to get involved.
"People want to have a horse when their kids grow up and things and we're as close to Civic as a lot of the suburbs are and it's an easy drive so it's location location."