Farmhouse, barns plus bungalow to renovate

I'm watching the clouds this morning, looking for hints of rain in their gathering. The weather app on my phone says rain might be - 60% chance, it says.
But I've been caught out by hope in an app before; weather is more fickle at the coast.
The garden at the home we've been slowly renovating has borders of new plants this summer. All of them are struggling. Planting for coastal wind is difficult, planting for wind and drought with young plants raised indoors, is pretty impossible; I'm losing one plant in three.
Hubby and I are having conversations about water recycling and storage and drip systems for next year, but also about how to hose down outbuildings and whether gardens need fire breaks. We don't do under-thinking.
Which brings me to this week's 'Wreck' pick, and I've gone big again with a former farm with two houses to renovate, five stone barns, almost 17 acres of land, surrounded by open fields (fire breaks), good access (escape), and the possibility of buying it all as one lot or as separate houses with their own parcel of land.
It's within the Lake District National Park and a walkable less than a mile from the super-pretty Cumbrian village of Cartmel.
We'll start with the big house.

Borwicks Aynsome farmhouse is a house built for food and the storing, prepping and cooking thereof. Its kitchens (there are three) are old school front, middle and back kitchen. None of this modern open-plan, let's-all-chat-over-chopping-veg kitchen - these kitchens were workshops.
Added to which is the biggest pantry/cold store I've seen outside a stately home. 

The two reception rooms feel like extras on a film set, waiting to shine in the Christmas scene.
Upstairs are five bedrooms and one bathroom (you'll want to change those numbers).

The farmhouse is Grade II listed and comes with five stone barns, some attached to the farmhouse, bringing more possibilities for business or living options.

The farmhouse, barns and an adjoining paddock can be bought as one separate lot (above) for £445k.

Next door is Little Aynsome, a cute two-bedroom bungalow needing its modernisation re-modernised.

There's a hall, a large light lounge, two decent-sized bedrooms, shower room, kitchen and utility.
If you wanted to buy the bungalow on its own, it's being parceled up with a manageable third of an acre sliced from the adjoining field for £350k.

To be fair, I think the agents and sellers have done a decent job in thinking about how to sell this estate. The two houses parceled with bits of adjoining land; the rest of the acreage offered as farm land with a clawback clause - all nicely planned.
But who wants a tidy bungalow when you could have it all?! Five bedroom farmhouse, two bedroom bungalow, five stone barns and almost 17 acres of pasture and meadow, a lottery-win bargain at £995k!

On the market through H&H Land & Estates, details, plans and more pictures on their website. For the whole property here, for just the farmhouse and barns here, and for the bungalow here.

Starter homes to do-up, under £200k

I've been reading Andy Burnham and Steve Rotherham's book 'Head North' in my downtime this week. For obvious reasons, but also because I'm a bit weird.
No-one needs to tell me, born into Hull's docklands and council estates, about the visceral reality of the North-South divide, but reading about how that manifested during Covid as political choices is chilling. 
Of course we have lots of other divides nowadays to pile onto the geographic one, including the growing gap between those who have bought their homes and those who may never be able to.
So today I'm going to focus on starter homes - properties under £200k, in well-served areas for first-time buyers, that don't need masses of work.
This is always the toughest type of property to find, not least because the price bracket is swamped with "Modern Method of Auction" chancers, but here's three I picked to show you.
Manchester is VERY up and down price-wise because the right area, down to the right street, matters. This property (above and below) made it onto my list because it offers more than a terraced stepping-stone; it's a house with space to grow with.
A proper Manchester redbrick, it's an end terrace with a large garden and detached garage. Good size lounge and kitchen diner downstairs, three bedrooms and shower room upstairs. 
Surrounded by prettier and newer properties and the inside has some interesting decor choices, but it's in up-and-coming Mossley with its train station, street life and good links.

On the market at offers over £190k through Ryder & Dutton. Details and more pictures on the agent's site here and on Rightmove here.
My next pick is down south, in increasingly popular and arty Margate. Houses under £200k that aren't auction properties are pretty rare in Margate - houses with gardens, walking distance to beach and schools and that have been looked after, are gold dust. This one, while not a wreck, has got awkward access that has put it in our price bracket.

A mid terrace with large gardens front and back, there's a lounge, kitchen, utility and bathroom downstairs, two bedrooms upstairs.
Access is up steps from the street and along the pathway in front of the terrace, then into that wild front garden. Fabulous for children and garden parties, less so for parking and carrying stuff home.

But at just £180k, and walking distance from the best of Margate, there's a lot to like.
On the market through Footprints. Details and more pictures on the agent's site here and on Rightmove here.
If those two are a bit too "city" for you, my last pick is in the North Yorkshire village of Gristhorpe, between Filey and Scarborough and just-about commutable to York or Hull.

There's a large lounge, small kitchen and shower room downstairs, two good-size bedrooms upstairs.
Outside is a large garden with fabulous open views (...and breathe) and a stone outbuilding that could become an office or workshop. 

Equally, you have neighbours who have extended into their garden which gives you growth options too.
It's on Gristhorpe's very pretty main street, with the popular Bull Inn pub nearby.
On the market at £170k through DMA. Details and more pictures on the agent's site here and on Rightmove here.

Multi-floor West Yorkshire homes to do-up

I was listening to the MP Naz Shah give her very funny and very moving humble Address yesterday. The humble (Loyal) Address is the traditionally humourous speech given by a chosen MP to thank the King for having opened Parliament. It's basically the Brit version of America's Correspondents' Dinner speech.
Shah's passion for Bradford was at the heart of her speech and it made me think about the city and its edges. I've lived there twice.
First, uprooting my young family to move there for my first fulltime job. It gave me my career start and my family the chance to buy a home. Two decades and more uprootings later, I moved back as a divorcee to a rented house in Saltaire, discovering its creative and fun community of independent women.
I recognise the Bradford Shah eulogised, but I think she should have mentioned the hills. OML those hills!! I still have Bradford calves.
So that's where I'm taking you today. I did struggle to find properties to show you that fit the 'Wreck' profile. Partly because big potential + small price is hard to find in cities, but also because the market is being skewed by a dumping of rental properties by landlords and the slowing down of who is buying.
But I've chosen ones that showcase what Bradford can offer in terms of do-ups.
The first (above and below) is a semi in a quiet area of Shipley. Saltaire was the cool artist's town when I lived there; its neighbour Shipley was where you moved when your family was too big for a Titus Salt terrace. Shipley gradually absorbed some of Saltaire's boho vibe and prices have risen accordingly.
This three-bed semi has the hidden benefits of Bradford houses that look small on the outside but are massive on the inside because of extra levels. This one has a house-spanning attic and a BIG cellar, split into four 'rooms'. Actually, I find multi-room cellars scary - too many Evil Dead films.
It also has parking - rare yet crucial for family city-living. The rooms have that old-lady-gone decor that I love. This one giving posh aunt you loved to visit - those dressing tables : )

Main rooms are big and the house (aside from that cellar...) feels light and malleable. The kitchen is desperate to be joined into the dining room; the bathroom needs to be the ensuite and another bathroom moving into that tiny bedroom three and you'd get at least another bedroom in that loft. The garage is a waste of space, it's blocking your garden access and curtailing the drive.

On the market at offers over £360k through Martin & Co. Details, more pictures and video on the agent's site here and on Rightmove here.
While we're in Shipley, the same agent also has this six bedroom terrace, similarly over four floors including cellar. Much more of a wreck but very typical big Bradford terrace in its dark stone and tall rooms. Pricey I felt given the work needed, but closer to the centre of Shipley action and rail links.

On the market at the weirdly priced £284,950 (reduced this week). More on Rightmove here.
My final pick isn't actually in Bradford but neighbouring Halifax.
I've included it for two reasons - firstly, Halifax was where me and the kids would get the bus to most Saturdays from our home on Bradford's Horton Bank Top - we loved the Piece Hall. Second, it's on the fabulously-named Bunney Green.
Plus it's a sub £150k house so always worth a look.

It's a back-to-back terrace but your side of the terrace has the benefit of gorgeous open views across fields rather than the road. Albeit parking may be an issue and your garden is basically that little space and its bench overlooking the fields.
It's small - that second bedroom is a stretch at "bedroom" (cover you eyes for that photo..) with limited options for changing internally (maybe turn that second bedroom into the bathroom and the bathroom into an office?). And there's a sadness in the photos and what they say about the final years of its elderly owner. Go write a new story in this home with its beautiful, beautiful views.

On the market at offers over £140k through Reloc8. Details and more pictures on the agent's site here and on Rightmove here.