Two cute cottages to cool off in

Blimey, it's a bit warm! Not quite so much where I am (Northern, sea breezes) but everywhere south of the bridge, is very hot and bothering. So this week's post is by way of a cool down.
Starting in Wales, with this very beautiful Grade II listed two-bedroom cottage tucked into the side of a wood. A former estate cottage of Gwydir Castle, in the Conwy Valley countryside, it sits at the end of a private drive shared with two similar neighbours.
In terms of renovation, it's mixed. There are radiators, services; but a sense that everything has been done quickly and cheaply rather than with respect to the property's age and potential. 

Love that door! The agent's details are on the woolly side in terms of the size of the land that comes with it: "... generous gardens together with a small paddock area and adjoining woodland." The map view shows a house up a hill, with a garden fronting (but raised from) the B5106. A wild, grassy area to one side, woodland to the other, and castle land behind. Chilled - in both senses of the word, by trees and space.

Two reception rooms, kitchen, hall and large store downstairs, two bedrooms and bathroom upstairs.
On the market at £280k. Details and more pictures on the agent's site here and on Rightmove here.

My next pick is on Scotland's Galloway Peninsula. If it's cooler climes you're after, I can tell you that as I type this it's 22° with a gentle breeze in Drummore, close to where this cottage sits, and 32° in London.

Small and part-renovated, it has lapsed permission to extend the cottage to the side, and comes with just under half an acre of land. 
It's in a fabulous location, surrounded by farmland and with views across to the sea. Close enough to a road to get deliveries; far enough from neighbours to howl at the moon.
It comes with just under half an acre of land and the work that's been done so far is what you would want - new roof, windows, repaired walls, opening up the space. The rear wall's been rebuilt, possibly to accommodate the large patio window on the plans (currently fitted with wooden doors). 

I'm not sure about the choice of windows and door, and obviously you still need to add services  including water and drainage, but at offers over £125k the work already done makes Knowes Cottage a bit of a bargain. 
On the market through Threaves Rural, details and more pictures on the agent's site here and on Rightmove here.
To finish, here's a cooling look at the North Sea from mine and Paddy's early morning walk : )

Houses with space to breathe - Coll and Cornwall

I was in London last week. Three days working in the focused quiet of the British Library's reading rooms; emerging into the over-peopled, over-excited, overwrought-ness of London's centre.
I'm not a fan. If there was a Londonista scale of love for the city, I'd have dropped off the bottom and be partying with the worms.
So, I was relieved to return to my big skies and (cheap) Northern space. Today's picks have that same sense of space and solitary quiet, but in very different forms.
This three-bedroom cottage on the Isle of Coll has all the space, solitude and big views you could ever want. Perhaps too much sometimes when the weather crashes in or you've run out of milk, or whisky. But for writers, artists, bird lovers and anyone who craves space to think and walk, this...

I'm reminded of that scene from Local Hero: "Would you give me a pound note for every grain of sand I hold in my hand?" 
In this particular case, it would be 350,000 pound notes. But what you get is not quite a wreck but a house in need of some remedial work. 
The house is an original stone cottage at the centre, with less lovely modern extensions front and back. The house bit includes the kitchen, living room, central hall and utility downstairs, Three bedrooms (one with a separate loo) upstairs.
The extension fronting the beach and views (below) is mostly glass; the one at the rear houses the downstairs bathroom and a workshop area.

The house is within an RSPB nature reserve and sits at the end of a long sandy track off the main island road, the B8070 running from Coll's ferry port.
The agent's details are a little spare - you'll want to talk to them. It's not clear how much of the land you own, who manages that access road, or whether the nature reserve location comes with renovation restrictions. 
And it's clearly going to take it's current owner sometime to pack up those years of loving living there. Though I'm happy to help out with tidying away that whisky collection ; )
On the market through Bell Ingram at offers over £350k. Details, more pictures and video on the agent's site here and on Rightmove here.
My next pick is very different, and I'm not entirely certain why it I think it represents space and tranquillity but there's just something really lovely about it. Maybe it's the sheltered entrance, the field views, the little patch of side garden, the solidness of that stone, or the openness of the mostly one-room, Tardis-like interior.

It's a former Sunday School sitting on a crossroads in the little Cornish village of Bray Shop, about 20 miles from the coast.

Currently used as a workshop, it'll need planning permission to turn it into a home but a fair bit of work has already been done to make it usable, including lime plastering walls, adding power points and, presumably, that mezzanine.

One big room, plus hall/entrance, going into a second room and then the covered area above into the courtyard garden, overlooking open fields.
There's a further small garden (no pictures) and the large double doors into the workshop open onto a small grassed area which is used for parking and access.
On the market through Dawson Nott at the recently reduced £170k. Details and more pictures on the agent's site here and on Rightmove here.

Three Cornish homes with potential

Cornwall. I meant to take you there last week but we took a sideways step. 
I should perhaps point out that, personally, I've never been to Cornwall. Devon yes, and other bits of the far south, but never Cornwall. I did get fish boxes delivered to me from there for quite a few years and I'm a fan of a dollop of Rodda on a scone, so maybe someday soon. 
I have three properties to show you today, all good locations, reasonable price-wise, and great potential. But all with a sadness about them, of time-stopped abandonment; of lonely later lives.
This three bedroom detached house in bustling St Austell sits on a quiet street, on a hill overlooking fields and already renovated neighbouring houses. It has a large garden, a fair bit of privacy for the location, garage and parking.  

Rooms are a good size - two reception rooms, hall, kitchen, utility/pantry and loo downstairs; three bedrooms and bathroom upstairs. 
That damp-trapping external render will need to go, and you'll want to keep the style, if not the reality, of those original metal-frame windows. And of course, there's a whole lost childhood to be cleared away.

On the market with a guide price of £250k through May Whetter and Grose. More details on the agent's site here and on Rightmove here.
My second pick is also a three bedroom detached house over looking hills, and also up for £250k.
This one in Cornwall's countryside rather than a town, sitting on the A395 a couple of miles from Davidstow.
Good size garden, garage, parking, and lovely views over fields.

Currently on the market for cash only - drainage issues (to an old cess pit) means the house isn't yet mortgageable. And moving the downstairs bathroom upstairs might lose you a bedroom, but you could also look to ditch the garage and extend sideways. 

Anyway, that downstairs bathroom probably meant the house (and hats) owner got to live here longer.
On the market through Cole Rayment and White at £250k. More pictures, video and details on the agent's site here and on Righmove here.
Which brings us to my left-field property. A four-bedroom, Grade II-listed, mid-terrace house at Perranarworthal, between Truro and Falmouth, with cobbled courtyard and a barn. For £185k.

It's on the busy A39, parking will be an issue - particularly for the works needed, but it is a pretty extraordinary building. Except ...

I'm sorry, but how many cats does one person need??!! 
On the market through Lodge and Thomas at £185k. Details and more pictures on the agent's site here and on Rightmove here.

For the cat ladies... : )