A renovation story - or two

A little bit of a different post today - in part because several of you have asked for updates on some of the properties I've featured.
I'm going to start  with this one, because I had a lovely email from the couple who took on the gorgeous Mount Pleasant (above), in the Cotswold village of Painswick, after seeing it on 'Wreck' three years ago ("Many thanks for leading us to what has been a magical place to live", wrote Alice).
Here's my original post.
I wrote at the time about how this pretty two-bed cottage had bobbed in and out of estate agent's lists, despite its lovely location and views.
Alice and John-Paul who took Mount Pleasant on, did a LOT of work and pretty much all of it themselves. Stripping out three-inch thick concrete plaster from the living room and replacing it with massively superior lime; exposing an original fireplace found behind stud walls; installing an upstairs bathroom and raising ceilings to expose beams and create light and height, and generally opening up the space. Lovely job.
Here's the before and after of the reconfigured layout:

Here are a few before and after pics.

And outside, that drab garden with potential is starting to really make the most of those lovely views, as the picture at the top of this post and the before and after below show.

However, Mount Pleasant is now back on the market, as Alice explained:

We renovated it expecting to live here for a long time but having just had our second baby (our first was born just a few months after we moved in) we realise we need more space and do not have the energy left to extend.

As someone who is also gearing up to sell a house we've been renovating and living in for the past six years, I appreciate that whole running out of steam thing. Sometimes the joy is in doing the work and seeing the house reveal itself in all its hidden gorgeousness, as other 'Wreck' renovators have said, but life moves you on. 

And if your hard work delivers a decent renovation profit, that's a plus too ; )

Mount Pleasant is on the market through Hamptons at £400k. Details here and here.

I also want to give a shout-out to some Wreck readers who are blogging about their own renovations, some renovating properties I've featured, but all with really interesting renovation stories to tell.

Caroline in the Scottish Highlands is a serial renovator (and frequently sends me other gorgeous crofts she comes across). She has three renovations - her own home, Ethel's House (now a holiday let) and Tor Aluinn - and is now helping on the revamp of the local village hall. Phew!

Ethel's House was one of a bunch of Scottish crofts I featured back in 2015 - this three-bed at Armadale:

Caroline has done an AMAZING job on it:

And the detailing of the work on Ethel's House is really inspiring, with lots of useful information for anyone taking on a similar Scottish project (also, I love her paint choices!).  Her blog is The House Hoarder and well worth spending an afternoon browsing and making notes if you're thinking of going down the renovate to holiday let route.

Finally, Robin's blog 2bedroomterraced is also packed with tips and ideas for anyone who, like him, may be looking to buy and renovate multiple properties to sell. It's a great behind-the-scenes look from someone starting out on the renovate-develop journey and the sort of problems you're likely to tackle along the way.

Two (more) English country homes to renovate

I thought I'd stick with the English country homes theme for a little longer and show you two beautiful big and neglected homes.
Both are pricier than my usual picks but both are in lovely locations - and there's nothing wrong with a bit of fantasy house planning ; )
The first, sent to me by regular reader Paul, is just outside the little village of Dunnington, in Warwickshire.

Five bedrooms, Grade II listed, edge of village location and a decent chunk of land to play with - what's not to want?
Lovely light rooms and lots of original features. I particularly love these cupboards, though I suspect they'll end up being replaced with bi-fold doors or a shiny kitchen island and some macramé plant holders : (

However, I have NO any objections to the next owner replacing this fireplace with a wood burner and chunky stone mantel. And ditching that glass door.

Or that green paint.

Bags of space but clearly a fair bit of work ahead. Four reception rooms, central hall, kitchen and utility downstairs; five bedrooms, plus bathroom upstairs.
Albeit one bedroom is accessed through it's neighbour, so realistically we're looking at bedroom four becoming the en-suite or some other part of a master bedroom suite with bedroom one. So, are we thinking four or three bedrooms and two or more bathrooms?

I get a bit excited when I start looking at floorplans and potentially movable walls!

Old Dunnington Farmhouse is on the market at offers over £550k with Sheldon Bosley Knight. Details here and here.
My second pick is equally - possibly more - handsome.
And pricier. And wreckier.
It makes the cut however because, as reader Sue said when she sent me the link, "I liked the fairytale vegetation encroachment".

Haroldstone House, at Crickley Hill in the Cotswolds, is pretty fairytale throughout. And in a pretty magical location.
Agents Hollis Morgan describe it as a "forgotten gem" (not exactly forgotten, given the owner applied to convert the coach house  - below -  a couple of years ago). The property package includes the house itself, plus the coach house, plus a whopping 22 acres of land.

We're talking renovation challenge of, and probably for, a lifetime. But what a gorgeous space!
Packed with period stuff, as you'd expect. And more of that vegetation Sue mentioned.

Not so sure about the "air conditioning" in this picture:

Just needs a bit of TLC really, and a coach load of power tools and cash...
On the market through Hollis Morgan at £750k. Details here and here.

Three English country-ish homes

My last few posts have all been about amazing "wrecks" in Scotland or Wales, so I thought I'd balance things out with three very English properties today.
At the top of the finances-needed tree is this farm on the Staffordshire/Derbyshire border, just around the corner from me and a property I've been driving past for 12 years.
There are two houses - a three bedroom farmhouse and adjoined two bedroom cottage. Clearly scope for creating one big home.

Plus masses of farm buildings, particularly these lovely, if ivy-supported, brick buildings around the farmhouse and its yard.

As well as the large yard and (small) gardens, the property brings with it over three acres of land.
It sits off a fairly busy bypass (I did say I drive past it a lot) but there are decent motorway and train links from its location on the edge of Tutbury.

On the market through Fisher German at offers over £500k. Details and more pictures here and here.
This next property is also on the larger size.

Sent to me by reader Morgaine, the six-bedroom former school is in pretty Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire.
The Grade II listed building is currently divided into three apartments (Morgaine tells me there's a tenant in one), but there's plenty of scope to turn it back into one home.

Lots of period details and big, airy rooms in a very large and handsome house - if in need of some serious remodelling and several skips ; )

On the market with a guide price of £385k through Morris Bricknell. Details and more pictures here and here.
My final pick made the cut because of this gorgeous husky.

Actually it's an interesting house too, some lovely rooms (albeit there are clearly issues) and period details. There's a gorgeous big garden, a deck area off one room, and a nice-looking pub a couple of doors away.

But whoever thought to let that handsome hound wander in and out of the photos was a genius.
The three-bedroom semi is in the village of Pulverbatch, Shropshire, and is on the market through 99Home with a guide price of £240k. Details and more pictures here.
There's an Open House event on August 24th.