Friday 24 October 2014

Laird's manse, Yell, Shetland

This is The Haa. Aside from the absolutely fabulous house name, it's in a place called Gloup, on Yell. Shetland SO does names!
The Haa is a gorgeous, faded Grade B listed former laird's home in a lovely location on the largest of the North Isles.


The Haa has had it's price reduced - to offers around £100k. Mad!
Here's some pictures:


I noticed the labels - marked for sale or auction perhaps? The price includes carpets and curtains and some of the furniture is also for sale.
There are signs of damp in some rooms and the house only has single-glazed windows and storage heaters. But the original doors, window shutters and other details are lovely.
Downstairs is the hall (with a bathroom off it), two reception rooms, study, kitchen and two walk-in stores/utility.
The first floor has two grand bedrooms with a second, shared bathroom. The large attic has a third bedroom (fitted out with cute box beds) and a second space used for storage.
Outside is an overgrown garden and parking area.
It's on the market through agents Neil Risk, details here.

Monday 20 October 2014

Two wrecks, North Yorkshire and Northumberland

I thought I'd lump these two together because, aside from location, they have much in common.
Neither of them have internal photos - which means I'm sending a yah boo! to the agents because I hate it when they just stick up a couple of pix of the building and the garden and leave it at that.
I mean it's not like they haven't actually been inside - property one (above) has room descriptions and sizes.
Although sticking metal shutters over the windows (property two) would make it a tad difficult to take photos inside.
The other thing they have in common is that they're both handsome, period coach houses or lodges now in need of a lot of work.
Vine Cottage, above, at Bolton-on-Swale, about 8 miles from Northallerton is the pricier at offers over £250k.
However the former coachhouse comes with gardens, three acres of paddock, stable and part-wrecked stone outbuildings:


The house has three bedrooms, kitchen, two reception rooms. Bathroom is downstairs tho'.
It's on the market through Charltons, details here and on Zoopla here.
Glebelands Lodge is in the rather lovely Alnwick, in Northumberland:


The Grade II listed building is single storey, 19th century Gothic, with a handsome drive (albeit sharing a right of way with its neighbours) and stunning windows.


It's on the market through Sanderson Young with a guide price of £180k. Details here.

Monday 13 October 2014

Country mansion with land, Anglesey

Reader Ivor told me about this Welsh beauty, up for auction on November 20th. He wrote:
I think this fairly counts as ‘wrecked’, but salvageable.
How on earth does a lovely house come to this?
Indeed.
Caerau, just outside Llanfairynghornwy, Anglesey, is a Grade II listed mansion comprising a late 17th century house connected to a later building, built around 1730, housing the kitchen and servants' quarters.
Plus stables, outbuildings and 24 acres.
The main house has three reception rooms, five bedrooms and various ante-rooms.
The other house is more wrecked, with two reception rooms (the original kitchens?), scullery and four bedrooms, plus inaccessible rooms on the second floor. Both houses still have much of the original paneling, fireplaces and features.
The whole thing needs masses of work:


Such a handsome property. And in a lovely location, approached by two tracks - one tree-lined.


I did a bit of digging. The building is listed in Coflein, along with pictures that show that by 1960, the house was already empty and starting to deteriorate.


There's nothing to suggest the house has been occupied in the fifty years since that survey. The property originally belonged to the Rowland-Roberts family and then the Bulkeleys (source) from when it played second-fiddle to the family's estates at Baron Hill and Beaumaris (this summary of the Bulkeleys' turbulent history is worth a read)
Anyway, the Williams-Bulkeleys are still around, here's the 12th Baronet and his family in 1935:


Chartered Surveyor Sir Richard Thomas is the 14th baronet Williams-Bulkeley (although there may now be a 15th - Google has its limits).
I digress.
If, like me and Ivor, you think it's high time Caerau became someone's first choice home, pop along to Morgan Evans' auction. Caerau with its outbuildings and land has a guide price of £200-£250k - details here and on Rightmove here.
Should you have a bit more to spare, a further 46 acres of farmland is up for sale at the same auction with a a guide price of £9k.

Monday 6 October 2014

Farmhouse, barns and land - Cumbria

Maybe I should spend a bit more time looking around Cumbria because the last couple of "wrecks" I've picked from there have just blown me away.
There was the animal-friendly cottage and now this - a five-bedroom farmhouse with derelict barns and 33 acres for under £200k.
Sign me up for a lorry-load of lime ready-mix!
I'm going to show you a few pictures so you can see why I particularly liked this one.


The last two give you a sense of the location. Relatively isolated (I couldn't work out access from the street view, my guess is it's up a track from the road). 
Anyway, wherever it is it's pretty high up. The nearest village, Nenthead, is the highest village in England - sitting at 1500ft up in the Pennines. We're talking wet and windy.
The house is over three floors - lounge, dining room, kitchen and bathroom downstairs. Then three bedrooms and a study, with two big attic rooms on the second floor.
Some renovation has happened - there are double-glazed windows throughout and solid-fuel central heating to the ground floor, but not to the upper floors.
The roof has been done and solar panels added and it looks like some of the attic has been replastered:


This picture probably explains why updating has been ad hoc and recent:


That hospital bed is in what was the dining room. The sheepdog on the mantelpiece got to me.
And I don't know how long he coped with this kitchen and this bathroom, before those new fittings were added:


Anyway...the 33 acres is mostly grazing land. There are two derelict stone barns adjoining the house plus the steel barn, and whole lot is on the market through Red Hot Property at offers around £175k. More here.