Boats for living on (the sequel)

Many years ago, 12 to be exact, I wrote a post about buying and doing up boats to live on. I was reminded of that on my lunchtime walk, standing for a while with a group of old chaps to watch the lifeboat being hauled onto the beach. Out of water, lifeboats move like seals.

I went back to the links I'd used in that post from 2013 and, while some of the sites have gone, most are still around - which was nice to see. There are lots of boats out there, lots and lots, so I limited myself to a top price of £40k (pocket-money for you £2million-ers... ; ) and ignored anything already done up.

I'm going to start here, with this 1960s, partly-renovated former trawler. Currently berthed in a marina in Plymouth, the owners have done a fair bit of work to prep it but there's a lot more to do. 

It's basically two 'rooms' at present - the cockpit, and the saloon/galley/anything else space shown below. The issue will be whether you could repurpose the large hull to create a bedroom and bathroom, if your goal is to spend more than occasional weekends in the marina.

But at offers on just £10k, it's well worth exploring. On the market through Boatshed (Plymouth), more information and pictures through the agent, and on Apollo Duck here. 

Also in the 25/26ft bracket is this chunky and cute narrowboat. Much, much less work to do, but also three times the price and you'd need to get it to where you want it.

Saloon/galley, plus separate toilet, shower, and a bedroom with a fitted double bed base. Details are pretty limited and don't include why it isn't in the water - could just be a storage issue at the yard? Also, I think all boats should have a name.

On the market at £37,750 through Nationwide Narrowboat Sales, more here.

And, if you really know your boats, this beautiful part-renovation of a classic 1948 Morgan Giles needs someone to finish the job and get it back to sea and under sail (top pic and below).

Designed by F.C. Morgan Giles, it was bought as wreck in 2010, the hull has been rebuilt, the bulkhead, decks and roofing replaced and the interior started. There's an engine and mast waiting to be fitted and electrics to do. Easy-peasy for the right buyer ; )

On the market through Wooden Ships at just £6500. Details and more pictures here.

Just to wrap up, couple of other sites I'd recommend if the idea of moving from land to water appeals.

Have a look at the New and Used Boat Company's secondhand section - they're not just another aggregator so useful on the advice front too. Apollo Duck is an aggregator but one that's been around for decades and carry a good mix of private and trade sales. A good option for registering interest in particular locations or types of boats (basically Rightmove for boats). And, if narrow boats are your thing (or could be), have a look at the Historic Narrowboat Club for information and guidance on what to look for.

Sea is calm this evening, hopefully the lifeboat can stay at home.

Two houses with snow potential

I've woken up to snow today. Well, snow-ish - mostly pavements like glass covered by a white dusting that fools you with its prettiness. 

Anyway, now me and the hound are back from our slip-sliding walk and are hunkered down with treats and the fire, I thought I'd find a couple of wrecks for you today in locations that do proper snow.

And I'm going to start here, top of the tree price-wise to properties I'd usually choose, and more tired than a wreck, but absolutely beautiful.

Ingleside House is in the borders town of Hawick. It's a mixture of Arts and Crafts princess palace with 1950s housewife decor. The challenge for whoever takes it on will - hopefully - be how much of both you decide to keep.

On the ground floor are three reception rooms, kitchen with walk-in pantry, large utility room, boot room and wine store. There's a gorgeous entrance hall and a downstairs loo.

It's that plaque left on the stairs ('Queen of the garden') that gets me. And yes, her gardens are still beautiful.

On the first floor are five bedrooms and two bathrooms, with a further bedroom on the second floor and an enormous games/playroom - possibly big enough for one of Sir Rod's trains sets. 

The house has lovely wrap-around gardens, garage, brick outbuildings, a summer house and large greenhouse. It sits in a quiet area of Hawick - the largest of the border towns, with everything a pretty and popular tourist town has to offer.

On the market at offers over £460k through Bannerman Burke. More details, pictures and video on the agent's site here and on Rightmove here.

My second pick (top picture and below) is this part-finished renovation project sitting in the grounds of a Scottish estate.

Keeper's Cottage on the Cambusmore Estate, Sutherland, has planning permission, architect drawings and a fair bit of work already done to update it. To be honest, I'm puzzled why you'd get this far and then drop it onto the market at under £160k?

Planning was applied for in 2023 and approved February last year to remove that wooden extension and replace it with a fancy brick and render and big windows build. 

It doesn't look like that work has started and don't know what the status/issues are with the current plastered extension or whether you'd be able to just work with what's there. You'll need to ask questions because there'll be a deadline on starting the approved works.

The current owner isn't Cambusmore Estate's owners and may live 600 miles away, so perhaps plans for renovating a holiday home/let just proved too difficult at that distance? Or perhaps the agent's instruction that "no further land is available" indicates Cambusmore's owners' control over future development? 

Anyway, a big enough garden space for most of us and the location is absolutely breathtaking. 

Downstairs are two reception rooms, kitchen, separate utility room and loo, plus that large lounge extension and a downstairs shower room and store. Upstairs are three bedrooms and a bathroom.

It currently shares a septic tank with the Big House; you'd need to install your own. Access looks ok the estate is on the A9 and given it's a visitor destination with its own holiday lets, access around the estate should also be good, if needing negotiation for your trades and trucks. 

On the market at offers over £155k through Paul Coutts agency. Details, more pictures and videos on the agent's site here and on Rightmove here.

The snow has gone while I've worked on this, replaced by a biting wind the east coast excels at. My 'to-do' garden is looking even wetter and scruffier without its icing-sugar coating. The gnome is the gnome.

Three coastal properties (P.S. I'm back)

So, last time we got together, a few days over three years ago, things were looking pretty ok. Covid done, Trump v1 gone, and Truss replaced. But I was knackered.

Like lots of you, I started to shed the things that, as they say, were no longer giving me joy and one of those was Wreck of the Week. I put it on hold in case I got my property mojo back, but also because I knew how important it was to many of my readers as an archive of how we'd love to live.

Anyway, me and my mojo have been reunited and I'm making time for Wreck again. 

So, let's get the ball rolling with three interesting coastal properties that sum up the Wreck ethos - detached, peaceful, space, and some "challenges".

This first one is sort-of down the road and around several windy bends from me, which means I can tell you that the agent photos are rubbish - it's got a lot more kerb appeal than the drone shots suggest.

It's at Waxholme, on the gorgeous East Holderness coast, with a decent amount of farmland between the house and our eroding cliffs.

Formerly two properties, the mill house and cottage, now operating as one home, plus a jumble of outbuildings, a large plot of land and garden (0.4 acres) and the remains of Black Mill - which reportedly inspired Tolkien. 

There are four bedrooms across the conjoined houses, upstairs bathroom and downstairs loo, three reception rooms, kitchen, utility room and large attached garage. 

The complexity is that, while the property has been lived in as one home, the house and cottage are still listed separately on the land registry and no planning permission covering the work to join them.

Which probably explains why it's listed for auction. 

Auction runs online from noon on December 1st to 1pm on December 3rd, with a guide price of £200k. Details and more pictures on Rightmove here and at agents Auction House here.

Here, by the way, is the video I shot today of my own bit of coast.

And while we're on the subject of cliffs, Hollis Morgan has this 1.4 acre chunk of cliff and beach in Portishead, near Bristol, up for auction next week.

I don't understand how it's still possible, in 2025, to be able to buy and sell freehold a strip of beach, nor quite what you'd do with it (pitch a tent, watch the dog walkers pass by, wait for the sea, study the exceptional geology?), but with a guide price of £10-30k, owning this view of the Bristol Channel may be enough.

Up for auction on November 19th. Details and more pictures here.

Hang on, Portishead?? Cue a favourite song.

And finally, HERE is a proper coastal wreck.

Two bedroom cottage, with two acres of land, great views, and less than 2km from the stunning White Strand Beach on Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way. And on the market for just 145k euro (about £128k).

So far, so amazing. Here come the challenges...

There are two rooms downstairs and two upstairs, all with open fires. A shower, sink and loo has been added to one of the downstairs rooms. As the estate agent puts it: "Its traditional layout offers a warm, rustic feel". Indeed.

It is however in a quite spectacular coastal location and close enough to a village (Castlecove, county Kerry) and positioned on the N70, to make access to materials and trades easier.

On the market through agents Eleanor Connor-Scarteen at 145k euro. Details and more pictures here.