I'm going to start with an apology, because my wreck picks this week are pricier than I would normally show you. But as they say on the telly: location, location, location (and in the song: money money, money).
This first. A detached, three bed do-up just about on the beach. The particular beach is at Hugh Town, on St Mary's, the sort of capital of the Isles of Scilly.
Properties to renovate on Scilly are about as rare as the proverbial from rocking horses, not least because most of the land and a third of the housing is owned by the Royals. Put it this way, in my 11 years of Wreck, this is the first one on the Scillys that I've written about.
Which is by way of explanation for why this particular wreck is up for a Scilly price (ouch!).
Ice House has a bathroom, large kitchen, living room and dining room downstairs and a very large bathroom and three bedrooms upstairs.
I presume the downstairs bathroom was added to make the house more accessible as its owner/s aged, and the whole property has the sadness of happy retirement overtaken by infirmity.
This was once a much-used workshop. The house is full of wood and projects.
Like many coastal properties it's also showing the effects of bad renovation ideas from the 70s and 80s - concrete render rather than breathable materials outside, varnished cork tiles on inside walls - both trapping damp rather than holding in warmth. There's a fair bit of stripping back and remodelling to do.
But the house has kept its beautiful stone bones to the front and rooms are all a good, workable size. And if you're looking for inspiration, this beautifully renovated terraced version a few doors away is on the market at £1.2m.
Ice House is a home that should have a family in it. Children running down the path to the beach after school. Parents working on the island, contributing to its economy. But with a guide price just under £650K plus renovation costs, that's not going to happen.
Which is not the fault of the estate agents, who simply reflect a market where scarcity sets prices, but it can be changed by bigger, bolder public decision making.
Doubling the council tax paid for second homes may push a handful of private holiday lets onto the market but it doesn't impact proper property businesses. If we really want more family home owners rather than renters, its the 50 landowners owning 12% of the UK that need to give up assets. Starting, on Scilly, with the Duchy of Cornwall.
Politics aside, this is a gorgeous house in a gorgeous bit of the UK. On the market through Stacey Mann Associates. Details, pictures and video on the agent's site here and on Rightmove here.
My next pick to show you this week is also a chain-free, long-time family-owned property in a beautiful if pricey location.
The five bedroom detached house is in the Dartmoor National Park which, like the Isles of Scilly, also has the Duchy of Cornwall as its largest landowner.
Brook Lodge sits on its own acre of land and paddock, in the middle of moorland and fields and about a mile from the Devon village of Horrabridge, ten from Plymouth.
It's an odd shape but one that would easily lend itself to a two family or shared living set-up (also, see my suggestions from a couple of weeks ago), but it's the land (1.04 acre) and location that appeals most.
The single storey bit at the front currently has a bedroom, large living room, study and attached garage - plenty of scope for remodelling into a one-bedroom bungalow with its own kitchen and bathroom.
The larger section has a kitchen, utility, bathroom, living room and bedroom downstairs, with two bedrooms and two bathrooms upstairs.
As with the Scilly house, it looks like the downstairs has been altered to deliver more accessible, ground floor living but could be reconfigured into a more conventional three bedroom house.
Plus there's masses of space outside for extending or rebuilding. And honestly, those views deserved to be looked at through nicer windows.
On the market with a guide price of £575k through Stags. Details and more pictures on the agent's site here and on Rightmove here.
And for inspiration, Stags has this beautiful 6-bedroom Georgian semi for sale in Dartmoor, which has absolutely nailed country house decor.
