Award-winning renovation property blog since 2011 Regular (-ish) pick of houses, cottages, farms, churches and public buildings to renovate, refurbish or build your own grand design.
Last week I went towards the rich side with my property picks. This week, I've gone so far into lottery-winnings territory that we may never be able to look at little Welsh do-up again.
But bear with me.
Yes, Helperby Manor is the wrong side of £1m (is there a right side?) but it's also up for best and final offers by the end of this month so, let's luxuriate a little in imagining quite what we'd do with a run-down 10-bedroom country mansion sitting in nine acres of parkland.
Now the house itself is on the market, with a guide price of £1,250,000.
According to the Yorkshire Post, it was worth around £800k in 2018, but that was probably on the conservative side for nine acres within seven miles of the A1M.
The house itself is lovely. Four reception rooms, kitchen, other rooms, and the "service wing" on the ground floor; five bedrooms, two bathrooms and two loos on the first floor, and a further five bedrooms on the second floor.
Outside is a coach house with garages and stables and chauffer's lodgings above.
There are also other outbuildings and greenhouses, and the land includes parkland, paddocks and an orchard.
Helperby Manor is on the market through Blenkin and Co., with final offers by January 31st. Details and more pictures here.
Apologies, a bit of a gap again from me but I thought I'd make up for it by showing a bunch of increasingly large country houses - all with impressive "extra" buildings.
This North Yorkshire farmhouse first. Which has possibly some of the dullest photography I've seen but is handsome regardless.
Hollins Grove Farm house is Grade II listed, has four bedrooms, comes with masses of period details, outbuildings, pretty views and threequarters of an acre of garden land. Here's that rather useful-looking outbuilding/holiday let...
It's in the North Yorkshire village-cum-town of Easingwold, about 13 miles from York and close to the A19.
That location means we're looking at a rather hefty mark-up compared to similar properties in Ireland, at offers over £495k.
Realistically, that plus the cost of renovations, means you're going to need around £threequarters-of-a-million stashed under the mattress to do Hollins Grove justice. But, as Gabrielle would say...
On the market through Williamsons. Details and more pictures here and on Zoopla here.
Also Grade II listed and also in North Yorkshire is Castle Hill farmhouse. Castle Hill, in Burton in Lonsdale, is also half the price at £250k and has double the bedrooms (eight, more-or-less).
Gorgeous period details. Oh my - those windows...
And sticking with the outbuildings theme, this has to be the most gorgeous one ever.
Now THAT is a wo/man shed!
The views down Burton in Lonsdale High Street are pretty cool too.
On the downside, Castle Hill is a semi, not detached, and access for vehicles is down a shared drive and over your neighbour's land.
The 0.2 acres-ish of garden land you get comes with a proviso that you put up and maintain a stock-proof fence - but then this isn't the sort of house you take on if you don't know your Phillips from your flat-head.
Castle Hill was sent to me by reader Dawn, who has already bought her wreck but "can't help looking", and is on the market through WBW Surveyors. Details (lots more) here
And finally, and should you still be thinking about splashing £450k on a country manor, try splashing your cash on a mansion in Wales.
Plas Geler is in the village of Pentrecwrt, Carmarthenshire and overlooks the Teify Valley. Its outbuildings are actually wrecks but Plas Geler's add-on building is a gorgeous three-bedroom coach house.
The main house has six bedrooms and a bunch of other rooms (have I mentioned the wine cellar yet?)
The whole lot is surrounded by three acres of (overgrown) land, with a gated private drive, woodland, and a "small cave".
Basically, it's gorgeous. And there's a lot of it. But if I did happen to have that £three-quarters-of-a-million stuffed under my mattress, I know which house I'd buy...
Plas Geler is on the market through Dai Lewis. Details, more pictures and plans here.
And.... while we're in the area of Llandysul, reader Angus emailed to let me know that the Llandysul wreck I featured last year, here, is back/still on the market.
All that appears to have happened to the Henllan house, wrote Angus, "is that it's been attacked." : (
It's on the market with Dai Lewis at offers around £135k. Details here.
