Wreck of the Week

I've been having a mare of a month - topped by hubby spending last week in hospital with pneumonia. Anyway, things are crawling back to normal so I thought I'd treat myself today. The fire's lit, I have chocolate, and I have this extraordinary property to show you - sent to me by Wreck reader India. It's pretty remote - at North Stainmore, a huddle of homes off the A66, on the border between Cumbria, North Yorkshire and County Durham, around seven miles from Kirby Stephen . It's in the district of Eden , with its wild and lovely countryside and fab walks. Having spent a couple of hours doing  a bit of online detective work, what I find weirdest about the property is the lack of information*. There's very little on the agent's site and it's not on the listed buildings register (which may explain the ugly additions). I can't find any record of it's former use in the local press (it has a patina of ex-care home); and the stripped-out fireplace...

A friend of mine is married to an artist who paints big, gorgeous and unsettling pictures. He needs space for that.  Anyhow, long-standing 'Wreck..' readers may remember they've been trying to find a former factory or similar for the family to live in and him to work in. It made me think again about people who aren't looking for my usual sort of wreck. So, today, I'm looking at former commercial properties for artists looking for an investment as well as a studio. My first two were both sent to me by 'Wreck' reader Kit (thanks again, Kit). Above and below is an extraordinary, unrenovated ex-antiques showroom and former mill/factory on Station Road, in Batley. It comes with planning permission to turn it into nine, two-bedroom flats, but you could just as easily pick a floor for yourself and develop the rest as finished flats, or sell-off floors as DIY spaces. It's Grade II-listed; there are four floors and right of way to the side and rear...