The Beards are one of many families left to recover after the Black Saturday fires tore through Marysville on February 7 last year.

They were in Melbourne that day for a wedding and to celebrate their son's 18th birthday.

It was a great stage in life. Their children had moved away, they had just finished their dream home at Buxton, 10km from Marysville, and were ready to start the next stage of their life together.

But that became a pile of ashes. On February 9, they returned home with a bucket and shovels to sift through all that remained of their dreams.

They were optimistic for a while - drawing up plans to rebuild on their block - but it got too much and they had to get away.

"Ballarat had never been a place we'd ever thought of coming to," Mrs Beard said.

"Kevin has always been into houses and property development, so we thought we'd take time out, come here and renovate and think about what we really want to do."

The Beards' home in Ballarat is not the typical house of a middle-aged couple with a family.

It contains minimal furniture donated by fire relief, a donated television and a handful of photos gathered since the fire, when they lost everything.

"It's a long, slow process, people don't understand the enormity of how much it has really changed our life," Mrs Beard said.

"We were looking forward to time on our own, travelling, a brand-new house, lovely things - but it's all gone and at the age of 50, we have to totally start from scratch."

But the Beards also remind themselves it could have been worse. Their friends lost wives, children, businesses, as well as their homes.

"They are the ones who have been left with absolutely nothing," Mrs Beard said.

The couple have started their new accommodation business in Ballarat, a move to give themselves some goals.

This weekend, the couple are looking forward to supporting their community in Marysville. They will gather in Gallipoli Park, where people evacuated to on Black Saturday.

"It will be an unusual feeling, a very emotional time for everyone, but it will be time to reflect and be together," Mrs Beard said.