Wreck of the week

Cottage - Isle of Lismore, Scotland

sue2@openbook.co.uk (Wreck of the Week) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 12:40:00 +0000

Rowantree Cottage is a cute, semi-detached cottage in need of complete refurbishment and modernisation.

It's ideal for someone looking for a quiet island hideaway (the Isle of Lismore has a primary school and a single shop) couple with a renovation project.

The stone-built cottage currently has just three rooms – a sitting room/kitchenette with open stonework walls, one bedroom and a bathroom. But also has a decent-sized floored loft space with potential to create a second bedroom.

There are gardens front and back, with open countryside views.

The Isle of Lismore sits in Loch Linnhe, on the West Coast of Scotland, and has frequent ferry access to the livelier Port Appin and to Oban.

Rowantree Cottage is on the market at offers around £80,000.

Cottage for sale - more details

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Herdshouse Bothy, Melrose, Scotland

sue2@openbook.co.uk (Wreck of the Week) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 10:46:00 +0000

A stone-built, detached, original bothy with stunning views over the Eldon Hills. The property (which, let's face it is a damn fine-looking shed right now) has two rooms and comes with full planning permission to redevelop it as a three-bedroom home or holiday retreat.

It has parking for two cars and a decent-sized garden with great, open countryside views all around.

Herdshouse Bothy is at Longleefoot, three miles from the pretty border town of Melrose and 40 miles from Edinburgh. It's on the market through Rettie Estate Agents at offers over £95,000

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Cottage - Saltburn-by-the-Sea, North Yorkshire

sue2@openbook.co.uk (Wreck of the Week) — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 10:44:00 +0000

We don't often feature terraced homes on Wreck, we tend to look for ones that put some distance between you and the neighbours. But look at that garden - could those dandelions look any more inviting?

The house, on Stone Row in the seaside village of Saltburn-by-the-sea, is a stone-built, mid-terrace cottage needing extensive refurbishment and updating.

There's a ground floor bathroom and the garden you can see is the front garden - it's not clear from the details what's at the back of the property.

But it has two bedrooms, a good seaside location and is on the market at just £54,000 making it a good holiday home prospect.

House for sale - more details

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The Old Cowsheds, Criccieth, Gwynedd

sue2@openbook.co.uk (Wreck of the Week) — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 14:26:00 +0000

It being Inauguration Day today, I thought we'd kick off 2009 with a Big Project - not quite on the scale of the challenges facing Pres O... but close.

Anyway, The Old Cowsheds, ten minutes from Criccieth, are just that - a bunch of old stone sheds. Realistically, your choice will be how much of the stone and slate you can keep as you knock down and rebuild - this is a major conversion job. But planning permission has already been given to create a decent holiday unit from the buildings.

Not surprisingly because these have to be the best located cow sheds in Wales.

Stunning, far-reaching views of Cardigan Bay and the Snowdonia National Park and a tranquil rural setting at the end of a long, gated drive. Lovely.

The Old Cowsheds are on the outskirts of the villiage of Pentrefelin, close to pretty Criccieth and five miles from Porthmadog.

They're on the market through House Network, at £189,950.

Houses for sale: More details

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Happy 2009 wreck hunting!

sue2@openbook.co.uk (Wreck of the Week) — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 13:22:00 +0000

Regular WOTW readers will have seen a pattern to the featured homes - pretty, great location and a great 'price v potential' ratio. And UK-based.

But, it being post-Christmas/New Year, I couldn't resist putting up this one for anyone back at work and dreaming of a jumping ship completely in credit-crunched 2009. The sales text is reproduced as it was written on the Phnom Penh Post:

This second-storey apartment in Phnom Penh’s Tonle Bassac area has an auspicious history but an uncertain future.

The apartment building was designed by renowned Cambodian architect Vann Molyvann in the 1950s as part of a huge countrywide infrastructure and construction movement under the patronage of King Norodom Sihanouk.

Father time has not been kind. The building is now notorious as the Bouding slum, and rumours abound that it is marked for destruction. Prime Location’s preference is that the building be recognized for its historic value and be restored to its former glory as a classic example of a community housing development for urban dwellers. In which case this would be a great buy.

The owner will start negotiations at $32,000 and reckons the seven-metre-by-eight-metre space can fetch $100 to $150 a month in rental.

Apartment for sale - more details

What's the weather like today in Phnom Penh?

House - Loch Fyne, Scotland

sue2@openbook.co.uk (Wreck of the Week) — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 12:20:00 +0000

Substantial detached villa with great views and potential. Achagoil House, in the Loch Fyne village of Minard, is currently divided up into two apartments - ground floor and first floor, but could be put back together again as a stunning home.

The 150-year-old traditional villa is at the top of the village in a quiet setting, backed by woodland and with views across farmland to Loch Fyne.The house comes with about a quarter acre of garden, bordered by a burn, and each apartment currently offers two-bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen and sitting room/area. The whole lot needs upgrading and you'd need to apply for planning permissions to turn it back into one home.It's on the market at a fixed price of £210k, through MacArthur Stewart.

House for sale - more details

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House and barns - Tregaron, Ceredigion, Wales

sue2@openbook.co.uk (Wreck of the Week) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 14:59:00 +0000

A lot of brick for your bucks with this Welsh homestead. Bryn Brawd farm is in a lovely, secluded rural location close to the Cambrian Mountains within the popular tourism area of Ceredigion.

It's a versatile offering - you get an (unmodernised), three-bed, two reception detached farmhouse, a hotch-potch of stone barns around a courtyard - and 5.61 acres of land.

The property is offered on its own, with a guide price of £250,000, or as Lot 3 within a parcel of 1300 acres of farmland, shooting and fishing rights and buildings, offered by agents Humberts (see below).

The estate lies 9 miles south-east of Tregaron and 14 miles from Lampeter. Aberystwyth is 25 miles away.

House for sale - details

Details of full offering, including farmland.

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House - Ludchurch, Pembrokeshire, Wales.

sue2@openbook.co.uk (Wreck of the Week) — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 12:33:00 +0000

Barn conversion looking for a style King/Queen! This detached, three-bedroomed barn conversion has already had all the big stuff done - it just needs some attention from someone who doesn't think brown is a good colour for a bathroom...

The gardens are small and you'll want to rip out the kitchen and the faux features, but it's in a good village location close to the South Pembrokeshire coast and the market town of Narberth.

It's got a garage, two bathrooms and two reception rooms and is on the market at £129,950 through agents John Francis.

House for sale - more details

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House - Rogart, Scotland

sue2@openbook.co.uk (Wreck of the Week) — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 11:53:00 +0000

Picturesque former tweed mill ripe for redevelopment. The Old Mill sits on the Corrie Burn in the decent-sized Highlands village of Rogart.

The Mill itself is a roofless shell and clearly needs a bit more than TLC to turn it anything remotely livable! However, it comes with outline planning permission to create two, three bed-roomed houses from the ruin.

It's in a very pretty area, a few miles form the coast and the Dornoch Firth, and with great road and rail and links (the village itself has a railway station). Inverness is 51 miles away and its airport has direct flights to many UK cities.

It's a big job for someone with the cash or know how, and you need to check exactly what you're getting in relation to the site, but it's on the market for just £90k and the two-house design option brings a lot of potential.

House for sale - more details

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House - Ranish, Isle of Lewis

sue2@openbook.co.uk (Wreck of the Week) — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 10:31:00 +0000

A part-finished conversion job that could offer a pretty Hebridean holiday home. The Old Mission Hall, in the village of Ranish, about nine miles from Stornoway, has been partly renovated by its owners. The big stuff inside has mostly been done, but there's still a lot to finish off - including some key bits like connecting up water and sewage and applying for permission to change it from non-domestic to domestic use.

So far, the building has been partitioned to create a good-sized, bright and airy home, with an open-plan living room/kitchen, a bathroom and a bedroom.

Electricity has been added, there are radiators (which aren't connected), bathroom suite (also not connected) and a fitted kitchen which is installed (yippee!).

However, it's a nice conversion and the rooms are a lovely shape, with pretty windows and wooden floors throughout. Best of all, the price has been credit-crunched to a ridiculously low 'offers over £20,000'.

House for sale - more details

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House - Whitehaven, Cumbria

sue2@openbook.co.uk (Wreck of the Week) — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:05:00 +0000

Dirt-cheap mystery house that's got to be worth a look! We say mystery house because there's not a lot of detail around on the property.

It's a semi-detached house, in Parton - a coastal village a couple of miles north of Whitehaven and close to the Lakeland fells.

It's got three bedrooms, lounge, dining kitchen, bathroom, double glazing and central heating. And "distant sea views" from the main bedroom - woohoo!

It's also got gardens front and back, a nice rural setting and it's on the market for offers around £45,000, through Tiffen & Co.

Yes, we did say £45,000.

It needs "refurbishment/completion", whatever that is, and there is an occupancy restriction that it has to be your primary residence, but it's still damn cheap.

Maybe the price means it sits in the middle of Cumbria's crime hotspot, or that cows run riot through the garden every full moon? But that size house for that little money is worth doing the homework on.

House for sale - more details

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Cottage - Tacolneston, Norfolk

sue2@openbook.co.uk (Wreck of the Week) — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 10:38:00 +0000

Former bakehouse ripe for renovation. This Grade II-listed, timber-framed former bakehouse comes with planning permission to turn it into a pretty two-bedroom home. It sits in 0.15 acres of garden - a chunk of it taken up with a pond.

It dates from the late 17th or early 18th Century and is closely associated with the neighbouring Manor House. Currently, the building is being used as store. The Manor House's owners applied for the original planning permission which includes a living room, kitchen/dining area, garden room, bathroom, two bedrooms. They also have permission to convert nearby barns and outbuildings to residential use.

Tacolneston is a small village, around 10 miles south of Norwich.

The Old Bakehouse is on the market with a guide price of £195,000, through TW Gaze.

Cottage for sale - more details

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House - Fort William, Scotland

sue2@openbook.co.uk (Wreck of the Week) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 09:05:00 +0000

Decent-sized house perfect for outdoor sporty types! No. 5 Forestry Houses, as the name suggests, is set within the lovely woodlands at Torlundy, within cycling distance of Fort William "the outdoor capital of the UK".

Torlundy boasts some of the most extensive and challenging bike tracks within the country and the outdoor pursuits centre, Nevis Range, at the base of Aonach Mhor, is close by.

The property has a big garden, three double bedrooms, a downstairs bathroom, kitchen and good-sized living room. But it needs serious modernisation and decoration. A new kitchen and bathroom for starters - tho' you might decide purple isn't such a bad colour for the living room after all...

It's on the market at offers over £80,000, through MacArthur Stewart.

House for sale - more details

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Cottage - Solva, Wales

sue2@openbook.co.uk (Wreck of the Week) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:54:00 +0000

Welsh coastal village cottage crying out for a makeover! Actually, we don't just mean a makeover, we mean complete restoration to make it livable.

And, pretty though it is, and even though it's in a very pretty location, you won't get a lot more space out of it than it has already. Which is two bedrooms, a bathroom, scullery and a 20-by-14-feet living room.

Solva itself is a lovely Pembrokeshire Coast village of pretty colour-washed cottages facing St Brides Bay and the cottage could make a great holiday home or letting.

It's semi-detached, and parts of the cottage date back to the early 1880's. It has a separate garage a short distance away and an enclosed rear garden.

It's for sale by auction (unless previously sold) on Wednesday 1 October 2008, at the Ivy Bush Hotel, Carmarthen, at 3:00pm, through agents John Francis, with a guide price of £95,000.

Cottage for sale - more details

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Cottage and barn - Lofthouse, North Yorkshire

sue2@openbook.co.uk (Wreck of the Week) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 10:36:00 +0000

A Grade II listed former farm-worker's cottage and barn with walled garden. The property comes with planning permission to convert the two buildings into a substantial three-bedroom, three-reception home.

It sits in a pretty area, next to the River Nidd, with wonderful, sweeping views across Nidderdale. Lofthouse is the nearest village and Pateley Bridge and Masham are close by.

The buildings are part of a combined planning application to develop three buildings on Lower Woodale farm, within the 1415 acres Summerstone Estate, with the condition that development must start by the 11th December 2009.

The other building in the application is a detached barn - details here - both on the market through Dacre, Son and Hartley with a guide price of £150,000.

Cottage and barn for sale - more details

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Cottage - North Fambridge, Essex

sue2@openbook.co.uk (Wreck of the Week) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 08:34:00 +0000

Lovely listed weatherboard cottage on Essex waterfront. Number Two Riverside Cottages has two bedrooms and two reception rooms, plus decent gardens - but not a lot else aside from location, location, location.

You would need to add a kitchen and bathroom - even a loo - to make this Victorian holiday home comfortable enough for longer than an overnight stay. But it's a lovely building, with some sweet period features, and around £40k investment will give you a stunning second or main home less than an hour from London.

The cottage is in North Fambridge, on the River Crouch, a regular haunt of sailing types, with moorings, sailing club, a good country pub and a railway station with a 45-minute direct route into London Liverpool street. Chelmsford is around 30 minutes away, and the A130 ten minutes away.

It's on the market for £130,000, through John D Wood estate agents.

Cottage for sale - more details

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Cottage - Gayle, North Yorkshire

sue2@openbook.co.uk (Wreck of the Week) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 12:33:00 +0000

Quirky cottage in lovely location needing major updating. Mill Cottage, on a quiet back lane called the Wynd, in Gayle, near Hawes isn't the prettiest-looking of North Yorkshire hideaways. But there's something about its higgledy-piggedly oddness that's really quite cute.

Set over three floors, Mill Cottage has two bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen, a decent-sized lounge and an assorted outbuildings.

You'll want to rip out the kitchen and start again. And while you're at, the damp course might need looking at, you'll need to re-wire, and some proper heating wouldn't go amiss in those piercing Dales winters. But the cottage is in a gorgeous location, in the very pretty hamlet of Gayle, half-a-mile from Hawes, in the centre of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Gayle Beck, the bridge and waterfalls and Gayle Mill are just yards from the door.

It's on the market at offers around £139,000, through J R Hopper & Co.

Cottage for sale - more details

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Schoolhouse - nr Caernarfon, North Wales

sue2@openbook.co.uk (Wreck of the Week) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 09:03:00 +0000

Former schoolhouse with lots of space and potential. The old schoolhouse at Caeathro has been used as workshop and needs the works to turn it into a home - plumbing, wiring, fitting, plastering. turning the scrubby schoolyard into a garden...

But it comes with planning permission in place to turn it into a three-bed house, and there are lots of sumptuous original features to get your Grand Design ideas bubbling. Like original windows, beamed ceilings and a main room that's 37-feet by 18-feet. Have a look at the pictures from the link below - though it's best to focus on the top half of each image!

It's currently split into five rooms, and has off-road parking and the walled and overgrown schoolyard at the back.

Caethro is about two miles from Caernarfon, in Gwynedd, and nine from Banjor.

It's on the market through Carter Jonas, with offers invited around £225,000.

House for sale - more details

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Schoolhouse, Dalavich, North Argyll

sue2@openbook.co.uk (Wreck of the Week) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:13:00 +0000

Part-renovated, former schoolhouse with Loch views. It seems a bit unfair to call this a wreck of the week really, given the amount of work that's already gone into renovating The Old Schoolhouse, in Dalavich.

The dirty big stuff has been done - the subsoil dug out, new foundations re-poured, a new roof, new windows, new internal walls to create bigger, open spaces, re-wiring and re-plumbing. But given that, we're still talking about a substantial project to complete the property as a three-bed, two-bath, open-plan living room and large kitchen home. If you take a look at the brochure images from the link below, you'll see that includes finishing off walls, plastering, adding fixtures and fittings for kitchen and bathrooms.

But, it's a good-size, stone-built, one-and-a-half storey detached country property with a decent plot of land and views of Loch Awe from the upper windows. It's in a quiet location, about a mile from the little village of Dalavich and eight miles from Kilchrenan, on Loch Awe - Oban is 27 miles away.

The property is for sale through DM Mackinnon Estaes, at offers over £225,000.

House for sale - more details

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Chalet - Whitsand Bay, Cornwall

sue2@openbook.co.uk (Wreck of the Week) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 11:00:00 +0000

Clifftop chalet, overlooking Whitsand Bay. Don't be put off by the picture and the fact that it looks like, well, a chalet, it's all about location, location, location with this seaside sweetie.
The agents acknowledge that Goodenough (yes - that's its name) would benefit from being taken apart and rebuilt. Helpfully, they even tell you that all the materials needed to rebuild it are already available - in fact there's a list!
But the relatively hefty guide price of £159,995 for a two-bedroomed chalet is about being able to look out onto Whitsand Bay - a three-mile stretch of perfect sand and a designated area of outstanding beauty. We've picked the image of the actual chalet for Wreck Of The Week - so you know what you're buying - but the full detail pictures on R House Estate Agency's website (below) show you just how stunning the location is - despite taking the pictures on a typically British day!
Chalet for sale: more details
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Cottage - Isle of Jura

sue2@openbook.co.uk (Wreck of the Week) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 09:07:00 +0000

Pretty, semi-detached island cottage. Oak Tree Cottage, at Inverlussa, on the stunning Isle of Jura, is in a lovely position just 200 metres from the sea and a small, sandy beach.
As if that wasn't attractive enough, the cottage is also a decent size - with four good bedrooms, two reception rooms, kitchen, bathroom and a box-room/play-room.
It would make a lovely family home but would also make a good-sized holiday home with rental potential. It needs modernising and updating - the kitchen in particular could do with a facelift.
Oak Tree Cottage was originally two properties but has been converted into one home, retaining some original features including open fireplaces and original windows.
Offers invited over £120,000 through DM Mackinnon Estates
Cottage for sale: more details
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Church - Pembroke, Wales

sue2@openbook.co.uk (Wreck of the Week) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 10:52:00 +0000

Former baptist church packed with original details. The former Mount Pleasant Baptist Church dates from 1859 but was rebuilt in 1877 to the designs of Reverend Thomas Thomas. It's massive and gorgeous, with vaulted ceilings, big windows and the wooden pulpit and balconies still in place.

It's got a large front garden (with space to park up to 12 cars!) and the inside area includes the 50ft by 37ft galleried church and a meeting room, two offices, vestry, creche, schoolroom and ladies and gents toilets.

The poor thing had been used as an antiques centre but is now offered for auction with planning permission to convert the former school and creche into a substantial three-bedroomed house.

However, it's a major piece of work on a listed building and permission has only been given for the current plans, so whether you would be able to make use of the whole space, or vary the plans substantially would need looking at carefully.

The church is offered for sale by auction, at 3pm on July 30th, at the Ivy Bush Hotel, Carmarthen, with a guide price of £130,000.

Former church for sale - more details

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Cottage - Middleton, Derbyshire

sue2@openbook.co.uk (Wreck of the Week) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 08:30:00 +0000

Detached and quirky village house. The Pitchings sits on Sandy Hill in the village of Middleton, about four miles from Matlock and 15 from Derby.

It has three bedrooms, kitchen, sitting room, dining room and bathroom, a courtyard and long, lawned garden.

The L-shaped house is in need of modernisation and its cottagy good looks have been spoilt by inappropriate windows and pebble-dashed walls, but it's in a popular area and in the right hands it could make a pretty and profitable family home.

The Pitchings is up for auction, at 3pm on July 24th, at Pride Park, Derby, through Scargill Mann & Co, with a guide price of £100,000.

Cottage for sale - more details

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Cottage - Highbridge, Somerset

sue2@openbook.co.uk (Wreck of the Week) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 09:55:00 +0000

Detached cottage sitting in an acre of gardens and paddock. Edith Cottage is in a 'tucked-away' rural setting but in a good position - half a mile from the M5 and less than two miles from Burnham-on-Sea and Highbridge.

It's on a good-sized, level plot with a variety of dilapidated outbuildings. The cottage is in need of renovation and updating but there's a lot of scope for expanding and building a much bigger home, subject to consent. However, it would also suit someone looking for a family-sized house with space to recreate Tom and Barbara's Good Life!

The cottage includes three bedrooms, living room, dining room, kitchen and bathroom.

It's for sale by auction, through Greenslade Taylor Hunt, on Wednesday, June 25th, 7pm at the Batch Country Hotel, Lympsham, with a guide price of £225,000 to £250,000.

Cottage for sale - more details

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Bungalow - Rhydlewis, Ceredigion, Wales

sue2@openbook.co.uk (Wreck of the Week) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 12:39:00 +0000

Hidden-away detached bungalow with studio. Ideal for anyone looking for a quiet rural retreat, the bungalow sits on the edge of the rural village of Rhydlewis, within easy reach of the beautiful Cardigan Bay coast. The town of Newcastle Emlyn is approximately 5 miles away and Cardigan 11 miles away.

Inside, the good-sized bungalow has two bedrooms, lounge, kitchen, dining room, garden room, study, bathroom and shower room.

Outside there's decking, a generous garden, a small brook and a detached chalet/studio.

It needs updating and generally finishing off. But a few buckets-full of white paint throughout and a some ruthless pruning and weeding will make an immediate difference!

It's on the market through West Wales Properties at a guide price of £169,000.

Bungalow for sale: more details

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