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This is the house when we first bought it. The old lady who'd lived there for many years had given up on repairs, and so there were a few horrors to be found ... like the boiler that packed up on day 2, the telephone that wouldn't dial out on day 3 and the toilet that blocked up solid on day 14. Oh joy!! Then we found the wiring problems - and the meeces!	So, in case you're wondering, we certainly didn't pay the £190k asking price for it - fortunately, as you'll see!!
			Judy got just a teensy bit excited the first day - in fact, within half an hour of getting the keys, she'd taken down an internal wall with a crowbar (shown left). Beneath the horrible pine cladding we found the original Victorian paintwork (and the original Victorian wiring, and the original Victorian newspapers .... and plumbing that had the name "Noah" scratched on the pipes.) We also uncovered a huge space beneath the staircase, which quickly became home to the stereo & TV kit. A wine rack followed shortly afterwards followed by a coat of garish blue paint .....
	Before & After (below).....	and the destroyer surveying her handiwork

Then the ancient, leaking and wobbly garage had to go .....

So this got 'disappeared' ....		..... to be replaced by this kit ..... which grew into THIS! Much better.

It's amazing what you can do with Airfix kits nowadays!
Then followed a concerted attack on the "lovely landscaped garden" (below) .... no pygmies were harmed during the destruction of the neglected and overgrown wilderness depicted here. However, numerous rats were terminated, several moles made homeless and a herd of wandering Wildebeest repatriated.


Interestingly we found, hidden under about 10 year's worth of dense undergrowth, the makings of a reasonable garden. So we hired a rotovator and, one sunny weekend, set to....
Of course, herself had first (and only) dibs on the rotovator ... it had handlebars and an engine, see? Not much survived the onslaught ..... but Ma'am went and got herself a set of blisters.


<sigh> and then we wanted sympathy!		Yippee! Job done, and it's off for a quick sherry or two 'n a biscuit!

		Meanwhile, a swift inspection's carried out by himself, just to make sure mum's done the job right.

Slowly, the garden emerged from its long 'Rip van Winkel' hibernation and started to look less like a battlefield .... (Please note Bob's new yellow cement mixer (below). This is important. Do be sure to mention it if you see him. He's very proud of his new yellow cement mixer is Bob 'cos he's never had one before. We now have cement paths, cement walls, cement paving, cement floors, cement sandwiches .......



Summer arrived, and the garden performed as a garden should - we had the village around for a garage-warming party, and various friends came to stay. Just in case you were wondering, that stone wall (above right) is actually MEANT to be bent like that. Bob says it's 'artistic'. Judy says it's a looks a bit ~~(CENSORED)~~ !!! THE END - for the time being. Click here to return to the homepage