Dorset farm renovation story (and a bonus pick)
It was the lime green gloss kitchen that did it. Closely followed by those brick and stone stripes - banding - and my first encounter with Dorset's beautifully creative approach to mixing local building materials . Anyway, the upshot was that back in May 2018, I picked Grade II-listed Hayden Farmhouse, in Charminster , as my wreck of the week. The five-bedroom house (above) had been empty since Olive Miles, the last of the Miles family's generations of owners, had died at 97, and was up for auction with a guide price of £575k. With the house came nine acres of land, a bunch of farm buildings, and a pretty stunning village location. And also, as I noted at the time , Japanese Knotwood. Obviously it wasn't just me that was charmed by graceful Hayden house. The property attracted a lot of interest and on auction day, 83 bids before the hammer dropped at £848k . Last week, one of the family who bought Hayden House and has spent the past three years restoring and impr...