Rural smallholdings with multi-family potential

The sun is shining. I'm not trapped at an airport. I don't live in a country run by a sociopathic misanthrope. Three good reasons for me to show you these two properties, and then get out into my garden and plant things. 
I'm concentrating on smallholdings today. Places to escape into hard work - renovating, farming, growing. Places to welcome in Spring, alone or with family and friends.
And I'm going to start here, the biggest of my picks in terms of both scale and price.
Pontbrengarreg has so much to offer - a cosy and cute (dated rather than wrecked) three-bedroom farmhouse, plus a stone smithy ripe for conversion into accommodation, a mobile home in the yard, workshop and outbuildings.

And the biggy - 20 acres of land (yes, 20!) split into 10 parcels, mostly fields and pasture and including young woodland and a lake, plus mature gardens around the farmhouse.

The property is just outside the West Wales village of Llangeitho, about three miles from the market town of Tregaron and about eight from Lampeter.
Downstairs are front and back halls, two reception rooms and the kitchen, with a multifuel stove in the living room and a Rayburn range running the hot water and heating in the dining room. 

This is a project for someone who would rather be outside and digging than inside and painting. Get yourself a chainsaw, and a secondhand copy of Seymour's Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency, and side-line the madder world. 
The scale, the number of fields and those extra buildings could also offer options for multi-family/friend living and working that might make the £640k price more reachable.
On the market through Morgan & Davies. Details and more pictures on the agent's website here and on Rightmove here.

My second property (above and below) is similar - two/three bedroom country farmhouse, stone outbuildings, land with great views.
This time the land only extends to just over two acres but it's that attached stone barn and the range of outbuildings wrapped around a large courtyard that prompted me to pick it.
Again, plenty of space for you but with options for expansion, multi-family living or holiday letting.

The location is gorgeous, sweeping hills, big skies, remote - your nearest neighbours are all sheep, actual sheep. But on an accessible B road, and close to two villages (Croglin is nearest, about a mile away) within Cumbria's Eden Valley.

There's a large kitchen-diner, living room and what's currently being used as a bedroom on the ground floor, two further bedrooms and bathroom upstairs. All needing updating but perfectly liveable.

On the market through Britton Estates at £380k. Details and more pictures on the agent's site here, and on Rightmove here.
Right, the sun's still shining and the radio's firmly off. I'm with Barbara - I think better in wellies : )

Cute and tiny cottage projects, £90k to £390K

I'm in a cosy-up mood today, so I thought I'd look for some cute and teeny projects-to-be to show you. And to keep us all in that cosy state of mind, I'll keep the scary one until last.
We'll start with this pair of pretty traditional cottages on the wild and wonderful Hebridean Isle of Coll.
Honestly, this doesn't count as a 'wreck'; it's pretty much walk-in ready (former holiday lets), but the 'wreck' challenge is the difficulty of getting there and doing further work on it - such as maybe adding a bedroom or kitchen extension.
And of course the absolute weatherly wildness of living or holidaying somewhere so Northern.
But I liked that it offers a friends and family co-buying possibility, and its eco/off-grid potential.
Cottages 1 & 2 Beinn Tioradh are part of a much, much bigger sale of three lots, including a house, residential centre, offices, and 71 acres of grazing land, marshes, loch and eco-facilities, all bordering the gorgeous white beach of Hogh Bay.

All of that is owned by Project Trust, a charity that had been based on the island since the mid-70s and had been its largest employer.
It organises overseas placements for young people, including running some training events on the island. Last year, the charity decided to sell-up, citing post-Covid changes that meant their training courses could continue online rather than on Coll.
Anyway, our duo of thatched cottages sit well away from all of that in their own hilly bubble.
Both are tiny - one-bedroom with open-plan kitchen and living space, bathroom, a shared garden and utility shed.

Parking is just below the cottages and access is off the B8071 and up the gravel drive.

For sale as the pair at offers over £390k through Bidwells. Details, videos and pictures on the agent's site here. 

My next pick is equally chocolate-box pretty and tiny. Much cheaper at c£150k, but then it is only one house and there may be access niggles.

Rose Cottage is at Bailey Mill, Newcastleton, just below the Scottish/Northumberland border.
It's neighbour is a trekking and outdoorsy centre, but the cottage is separate to that (or is now). However, I struggled to work out where the access to the cottage is from the road they both sit on, and there's no information on the agent's site about parking or car access.
Like our Coll cottages, Rose Cottage is one double bedroom, a sitting/dining room, plus shower room. Bigger than the Coll cottages however, and with a separate kitchen. 

Looks like it's surrounded by a pretty garden area (lack of info on the agent's site again) but Google Maps shows nice, open views and, information deficit aside, it is super cute.

On the market through H&H Land and Estates with a guide price of £150k. Details and more pictures on the agent's site here. 

My final pick to show you (I realise I'm descending in price and ascending in complexity this week) is this proper wreck.

Former farmhouse turned barn in west Wales. It had planning permission (lapsed) to turn it back into a home, and comes with half-an-acre of overgrown paddock to the front and side, so strong smallholding possibilities.

Lovely rural location in the Cambrian mountains, but a lot to sort - including access, connecting services etc. All of which may involve discussions with your near neighbour (and vendor?).
Although the building does back onto the lane and you could create your own access and drive across your side land (note there's also a public footpath across your land).

Not exactly straightforward as a project, but the price tag appeals and the location is fabulous. In quiet countryside, yet close to a village and in easy reach of larger towns such as Tregaron (5 miles) and Lampeter (8 miles).
On the market at £90k through Morgan Davis. Details and more pictures on the agent's site here and on Rightmove here.

And while we're cosying-up, here's today's lunch. Chunky vegetable and lentil soup I cooked before starting on this post, cheese topping and toast side. Because hot buttered toast is a cosy necessity : )

Four-bedroom village homes to renovate

I was watching A Place in the Sun last night and thinking, blimey, that looks easy. You rock up to that modern apartment you bought in Spain, unpack a couple of boxes and then find a bar.
It's not like that in wreck buying land. Oh, no, no, no.
By way of example, here are my wreck picks for this week. Both family-size detached properties in village locations, but carrying different levels of renovation baggage. 
Starting here with this very lovely stone farmhouse, in Cumbria's Great Strickland, close to Penrith.

Grade II listed, it has well-shaped, good size rooms, four bedrooms, gorgeous gardens, off-road parking and a beautiful country village location. So far, so yummy.
Downstairs is a large through lounge, separate sitting or dining room, kitchen, walk-in pantry, good-size utility room and two generous halls.

Upstairs four bedrooms and a bathroom. One bedroom has a worrying-looking ceiling but otherwise all very reasonable-looking for a full renovation and update job.

Which is why the cash buyers only restriction is a little concerning, perhaps some elements of that renovation would scare off mortgage lenders? Regardless, you're going to need access to a serious pot of ready cash to be able to buy and do up Town Head Farm house.
There's a pretty walled garden to the front, large side and rear gardens, all enclosed by mature trees and shrubs, and off-road parking (accessed by shared drive). And the village pub is just across the green.

On the market through Dave Britton Estates with a £360k guide price (cash buyers). Details, floor plans and video on the estate agent's site here and on Rightmove here.

I was in two minds about my second pick. It's been on my 'possible' list for a few weeks because I couldn't decide whether it was lovely or ugly. I think we'll just settle on interesting.
Up for auction next week, Shalom is in the Powys village of Llangynog, around 10km from the English border. Another village location with great views and easy access to spectacular countryside.

I'm sure when this was built it made quite the Grand Designs mark in the village. Super '70s shaping, projecting concrete, big windows, mixing of materials. A James Bond block of building drama, hidden in its landscape, with a built-in garage for the Aston Martin to screech out of.  
This living room is proper mid-century styling and crying out for shaggy rugs and a cocktail bar.

But at some point James' granny moved in...

The ground floor has two bedrooms and a bathroom, a large utility room and the integrated garage. The first floor has two or three bedrooms and a bathroom, that through lounger/diner and a large kitchen.

Outside is another, detached garage/workshop, parking, drive (there's space for up to seven cars overall) and large - but very overgrown - gardens.
The property obviously needs a lot of work, it's stood empty for long enough for water to get in and gardens to encroach, but for some one who likes their cars and their privacy, there's massive potential here.
Up for auction on February 25th through Town and Country auctions with a guide price of £255k (plus the 5% plus vat Buyers Premium). Details and more pictures on the agent's website here and on Rightmove here.   
Not quite the Elrod House in Diamonds are Forever (nor hopefully with its menace and misogyny), but super cool.