Looking for a town house and a country house?

Two very handsome wrecks to show you today and which just so happen to both be in Newport. As in the not-Wales Newport. Or the not-Isle of Wight Newport. Or the not-Yorkshire, not-Cornwall, not-Essex, not-Norfolk Newports. Nor any of the not-UK Newports, such as the ones in Quebec, California, Vermont, New South wales, Queensland, or even the Newport crater on Mars.
There are a lot of Newports.
This particular Newport is in Shropshire and I'm going to show you Station House first on, predictably, Newport's Station Road.

Built around 1830, the former Station Master's home was bought from British Rail in 1974 by its previous owners. The building is Grade II listed, and that listing also covers the (attached) former stable and coachhouse.
It is seriously lovely: big, airy rooms packed with original features. And seriously in need of renovation.
Some work appears to have been started, or at least thought about - the current owners are trying for planning permission to convert the coachhouse and stable and working on having the wrought iron railings to the front reinstated.

Station House is a lovely size. Three reception rooms, kitchen and pantry downstairs (plus those extra buildings), and four bedrooms plus bathroom and separate loo upstairs. There's also a cellar, and a roof space above the coachhouse.

On the market through Nock Deighton at offers over £295k. Details and more pictures here and here.

My next pick, also with Nock Deighton and on the market for the same price, is on the outer edge of Newport, in the village of Chetwynd Aston.

Like Station House, it's a "former" - in this case former lodge house to Lilleshall Hall estate (now sports centre), and has also spent over 40 years in the same family.
Golden Gates Lodge (I'm sorry, but it sounds like a Chinese takeaway...) has three bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs; two reception rooms, kitchen and loo downstairs.
The gates it guards are Grade II listed but it looks like the lodge house may have escaped that restriction.
It's pretty house, with lots of lovely features but in need of fair bit of updating - including adding heating and upgrading all other services.

Not as large as the Station House, but perhaps also less of a challenge - and the village location is more appealing. Although I admit to being bothered by the window bars.
There's a large garden (that "green roof" aside. ; ) and a detached garage.

On the market at offers over £295k, via Nock Deighton. Details and more pictures here and here.

Cute three-storey town/country house to renovate

Last week I posted a couple of handsome town houses, and I thought I'd stay with that theme this week and show you this rather lovely house that is almost town, almost country.
The three-storey semi is in the lovely Snowdonia market town of Bala. It's Grade II listed and sits on the corner of Tegid Street (the B4391) and a sort-of square, with a church to the side and a backpacker's hostel to the front, according to the God of maps:

The house itself is a good size, with a large kitchen/diner, pantry, hall and two reception rooms on the ground floor; two bedrooms and bathroom on the first floor, and two more bedrooms on the second floor.

 

There's also a weird extra room - a bedroom/office/loft on the first floor but currently only accessed via that ladder and access hatch in the kitchen.

I'm not quite sure what the green filter is about in some of the pictures, either a mistake or an experiment with adding a vintage vibe? But the filter can't hide that extraordinary mishmash of prints and colours. Or the damp patches and peeling wallpaper. Lovely, lovely wrecks ; )

Also, can I mention that old heater on the wall?
I've seen these things a few times in older houses, including the cute wreck of a semi in Hull that my little brother is living in and renovating. Sometimes electric, sometimes gas - like the one my brother has just taken out of his bedroom.
The pipes and fittings are tucked inside the wall cavity, which seems a quite fantastic idea to me - sort of underfloor heating in the walls, plus the boost from the heater itself. Not sure how effective - or safe - these things were (?) but I really like the concept - and I think they're prettier and more space efficient than today's big clunky radiators.
Outside is a decent size garden, and there's access to a garage and outbuildings via an arrangement with the church.

The property has a flying freehold in place, maybe something to do with that weird extra room on the first floor. Anyway, it does mean you may need to find a more amenable mortgage company than many of our algorithm-driven high street lenders (says the woman currently becalmed on the property sea between risk-averse Nationwide and ultra-cautious Valunation....).

But back to Tegid Street, the house is on the market through agents Tom Parry at offers around £169k. Details here and here.

Thanks by the way to regular Wreck reader Jacky for sending me this house. And, if any of my readers can help out with a question from a fellow reader, Jill emailed me this query.

My husband and I have been avid followers of your website for quite sometime whilst looking for a wreck of our own to renovate. We have now found a wreck and bought it, a derelict stone cottage in Staffordshire with 6 acres of land!! Could we ask whether any of your wreck owners have experience of insuring their properties?

Grand Victorian townhouses to renovate

This week, I've moved away from my usual middle-of-nowhere rural wrecks and picked two large and lovely townhouses.
Starting with this gorgeous Scottish villa. The detached, traditional sandstone house is in the coastal town of Prestwick, about 30 miles from Glasgow. 'Midland' is positively dripping with period details - but clearly also needs masses of work.
I love the colourful approach to decor...

There are half-a-dozen bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs, kitchen, four reception rooms, and a bunch of workshops and stores downstairs.

Outside are good-size gardens front and back, and the property sits on handsome-looking avenue.

The house in on the market through Black Hay, offers over £250k. However, there's a deadline looming - offers by the end of this week (Friday, March 15th).Details and lots more pictures here and here.
My second pick is also in Scotland. This time a grand (if junk-filled) semi in the Crown area of Inverness.

It's bigger than your average semi - five bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs, three reception rooms, kitchen and stores downstairs, and good-size "garden".

There's a similarly ambitious approach to decor (is it a Scottish thing; bright colours and jazzy prints?), and a similarly challenging project. The kitchen is it's own special challenge...

Personally, I'd take it all on just to own those spun-sugar lovely bedroom windows.

On the market through Tailor Made Moves at offers over £175k. Details and more pictures here and here.