Two big houses in (sort-of) middle England

A lot of my posts are about outside edges. Properties that are located just outside villages, on hills and in wilder lands, on Britain's raggedy edges of coastline. I think it comes from having Hull as my hometown - my dad always said you only go through Hull to reach the rest of the world.
Which started me thinking about why I rarely feature properties in the middle of the UK. To be fair, I did live in the Midlands for about ten years, in Staffordshire. I felt land-locked.  
I started by consulting Wikipedia (obvs...) on what is the centre of the UK and, it's complicated.
Sort of depends on what you define as Britain's edges - our farthest islands or only the mainlands? And whether you use a flattened-out map or measure distances between borders (land or sea?). 
Anyway, Wikipedia lists nine possibles, depending on the calculations used, and none of them are the ones (Haltwhistle, Meridian or Morton) that have been claiming centre point status for decades. 
My favourite in the Wikipedia list is the wonderfully imprecise "field south of Calderstone Partnership NHS Trust, near Whalley, Lancashire" as the centre of Great Britain's mainland. So I'm going to start there. 
Couldn't find anything Wreck-worthy in Whalley itself, but the town is in the Ribble Valley and within a couple of miles you're in Pendle's hills. A glorious area and a bit of a footballer magnet.
The two properties I've chosen to show you have much in common - detached, five bedrooms, promising outbuildings, some land. Both on the market at offers over £450k (this bit of Lancashire isn't cheap), but in very different but equally attractive locations - a town house and a country house.
Town house first. 
North Bank House is in the Pleckgate area of Blackburn. Pleckgate, according to the agent's blurb is popular and prestigious - not sure what that means, but it does have a good school.

Downstairs are two good-size reception rooms and hall, plus two narrow rooms (one the kitchen) and a shower room. Upstairs are five bedrooms and a bathroom. It could all do with a bit of jiggle around rooms-wise, but lots of possibilities.

Added to those possibilities are the two storey, three-roomed outbuilding and that half-acre of garden.
Do we think this was the old-chap-gone's model railway/bus station hobby room, btw?

On the market through Stones Young at £450k. Details, more pictures and video tour on the agent's site here and on Rightmove here.
My country house pick is the unfortunately-named Higher Buttock Farm in the hills above the village of Barley, in Pendle.

Gorgeous views, large garden to front (albeit with a public footpath through) and large, stepped garden to rear. 
Again, a little bit of a jaggle of rooms across it's wide length, but lots of options.
Downstairs are two reception rooms, a good-size kitchen, family bathroom and the "library" which would be a great contender for a grander new entrance hall. While the attached stone garage could be an annex or an extension. 

If North Bank House carries the echoes of its gentleman owner's retirement, Higher Buttock Farm showcases its lady owner's life and hobbies - crafting, cooking, reading, gardening.
Matching mobility scooters too; this pair would not go gently into their good nights.

On the market through Fine and Country at offers over £450k. Details, more pictures and video on the agent's site here and on Rightmove here.

A mansion and a chapel - little and large do-ups

We have a greyhound. A very tall, long-nosed and lolloping greyhound. And, maybe this is just greyhounds or maybe it's the same for all big tall dogs, but snub-nosed little dogs just can't walk past him without having a go. Same on this morning's walk.
Of course Paddy ignores them but those little dogs, they just don't care that they're knee-high to him, that their head couldn't fill his mouth. Thank God dogs aren't humans with our capacity for cruelty and ambition and weapon-building.
But this morning's little and large encounter is the inspiration for today's post and my two property picks. Both in Scotland and one - and my apologies for this, with a deadline of tomorrow for offers.
Let's start with the greyhound-sized property.
Dunolly House is in Aberfeldy, in Perthshire. It sits off the A827, in a quiet area of mostly detached Victorian villas, backed by Aberfeldy's hills and the River Tay. Ed Sheeran wrote a very pretty song (with a very weird video) about it. Aberfeldy that is, not Dunolly House.

The house itself is massive. A former girls' hostel (hence the fire escapes and the extra wing) attached to the local Academy school, it's a Category C-listed 1890s mansion with fuzzy links to Queen Victoria.
In October 2024, planning and listed building consents were given to turn it into eight apartments and some works have been done to that end. What's lovely about what has been done so far is that they've clearly tried to hang onto its best Victorian features. Here's some pictures.

See what I mean? Pretty impressive. The Rapunzel-esque tower has had a new roof, windows and gutters have had work, dry rot done, and general clearing and stripping back ready for work. 
And of course, those eight apartment plans could be changed. Or you could build them and fill them with family and friends, or people who like greyhounds. 
Outside is around half an acre of garden area, courtyard and parking.

On the market through Bell Ingram at offers over £360k. Details, more pictures and video on the agent's site here and on Rightmove here.

My pug dog sized choice is the one with the deadline. 
Manish Church at Manish, on the Isle of Harris's coastline, is being sold by the Church of Scotland at offers over £50k.

B-listed (so more restrictive than Dunolly House's C-listing) and a few decades older dating from 1853. Manish church is one big, single storey chapel with a small vestry and a loo (accessed from outside - bracing!!). There's mains electricity and water, but no septic tank.
And obviously no planning permission in place at that price.

Unusually for a church sale it comes with more than its footprint in terms of land. There's a good size garden area around it and parking to the front, accessed from the road.

It's clearly been well cared for, the brochure (here) shows lots of well polished pews and hoovered carpets. 

But it's the location that really blows you away (probably literally). Sitting at the tip of Loch Fleoideabhaigh as it heads out to sea, surrounded by Harris's hills and wild geology. And a handful of neighbours.
Here's as close as Google's cars went - the church is towards the end of this winding road.

On the market at offers over £50k and subject to approval by church committees. If you're interested, you need a Scottish solicitor to send the CoS lawyers an email before noon on Friday (instructions in the brochure). More on the CoS site here and on Rightmove here.

Here's lolloping Paddy before I go. See you next Thursday : )

Multi-floor West Yorkshire homes to do-up

I was listening to the MP Naz Shah give her very funny and very moving humble Address yesterday. The humble (Loyal) Address is the traditionally humourous speech given by a chosen MP to thank the King for having opened Parliament. It's basically the Brit version of America's Correspondents' Dinner speech.
Shah's passion for Bradford was at the heart of her speech and it made me think about the city and its edges. I've lived there twice.
First, uprooting my young family to move there for my first fulltime job. It gave me my career start and my family the chance to buy a home. Two decades and more uprootings later, I moved back as a divorcee to a rented house in Saltaire, discovering its creative and fun community of independent women.
I recognise the Bradford Shah eulogised, but I think she should have mentioned the hills. OML those hills!! I still have Bradford calves.
So that's where I'm taking you today. I did struggle to find properties to show you that fit the 'Wreck' profile. Partly because big potential + small price is hard to find in cities, but also because the market is being skewed by a dumping of rental properties by landlords and the slowing down of who is buying.
But I've chosen ones that showcase what Bradford can offer in terms of do-ups.
The first (above and below) is a semi in a quiet area of Shipley. Saltaire was the cool artist's town when I lived there; its neighbour Shipley was where you moved when your family was too big for a Titus Salt terrace. Shipley gradually absorbed some of Saltaire's boho vibe and prices have risen accordingly.
This three-bed semi has the hidden benefits of Bradford houses that look small on the outside but are massive on the inside because of extra levels. This one has a house-spanning attic and a BIG cellar, split into four 'rooms'. Actually, I find multi-room cellars scary - too many Evil Dead films.
It also has parking - rare yet crucial for family city-living. The rooms have that old-lady-gone decor that I love. This one giving posh aunt you loved to visit - those dressing tables : )

Main rooms are big and the house (aside from that cellar...) feels light and malleable. The kitchen is desperate to be joined into the dining room; the bathroom needs to be the ensuite and another bathroom moving into that tiny bedroom three and you'd get at least another bedroom in that loft. The garage is a waste of space, it's blocking your garden access and curtailing the drive.

On the market at offers over £360k through Martin & Co. Details, more pictures and video on the agent's site here and on Rightmove here.
While we're in Shipley, the same agent also has this six bedroom terrace, similarly over four floors including cellar. Much more of a wreck but very typical big Bradford terrace in its dark stone and tall rooms. Pricey I felt given the work needed, but closer to the centre of Shipley action and rail links.

On the market at the weirdly priced £284,950 (reduced this week). More on Rightmove here.
My final pick isn't actually in Bradford but neighbouring Halifax.
I've included it for two reasons - firstly, Halifax was where me and the kids would get the bus to most Saturdays from our home on Bradford's Horton Bank Top - we loved the Piece Hall. Second, it's on the fabulously-named Bunney Green.
Plus it's a sub £150k house so always worth a look.

It's a back-to-back terrace but your side of the terrace has the benefit of gorgeous open views across fields rather than the road. Albeit parking may be an issue and your garden is basically that little space and its bench overlooking the fields.
It's small - that second bedroom is a stretch at "bedroom" (cover you eyes for that photo..) with limited options for changing internally (maybe turn that second bedroom into the bathroom and the bathroom into an office?). And there's a sadness in the photos and what they say about the final years of its elderly owner. Go write a new story in this home with its beautiful, beautiful views.

On the market at offers over £140k through Reloc8. Details and more pictures on the agent's site here and on Rightmove here.