An anxious day

Buying and selling houses is the most stressful thing you can put yourself through. And the cost is inhibitive. Basically, you don't want to be doing it too often. But more stressful still, is the fact that I've fallen in love with this house. And so the day that the surveyor was going in was a BAD day for me.
Right up to this point, I'd been saying to myself that if his report was damming, we'd walk away from the house. But part of me, in my stupid head, had already moved into the house, started rebuilding and repairing it, reclaimed the garden blah blah blah.
The day the surveyor was going, I mooched around imagining the worst; the roof on the verge of collapse, woodworm, death watch beetle (whatever that is?) dry rot, subsidence. Being a professional, the surveyor, Tim someone, phoned from the house, wanting to know if we had any particular concerns. He quickly reassured us that the house is a big, solid, forgiving house and once the gutters have been cleared out, it'll be fine. But are we aware it needs a lot, yes, a lot of decorating. And that was it! An almost clean bill of health. So onwards and upwards. A celebration is in order. Well, maybe just a small one for now.

The most unlikely house...

We decided years ago, that one day we would move to Norfolk, to live, if not by the sea, near the sea. It's been a dream for a long time, and when Hugh was offered early retirement a year ago, it suddenly seemed possible.

And so the search for the house that would become our home began. 

I had an image in my minds eye, of what this house would look like...detached, in the middle of a large mature garden, with maybe acres of land, in a quiet leafy lane, typically a Norfolk style of house - flint and brick, roses climbing to the sky, older, but not too old...

We looked at a fair few properties...some with land, some without land, some older, newer, smaller, larger, more expensive than we could really afford...none of them THE one.

And then suddenly, out of the blue, we found it and it was nothing like my preconceived ideas. For a start it is ugly and near a main road and not typically Norfolk - in fact, it's built from London bricks. But what appealed to me, is that it's damaged. It needs to be rescued, resuscitated, reinvented. It needs us.

After 10 years of neglect it has a field of moss growing on the roof, most of which has traversed its way into the gutters, it has scars of past abuse on its exterior walls and the garden is overgrown and neglected. 

But inside, it felt like a home, a big solid forgiving house, battle scarred and battered but recoverable.

And so we committed ourselves to it, heart and soul, and this is our journey with this house, our vision of family Christmas's and summer visitors will see us through the process of rejuvenating this house, to become our family home. I hope you will visit often and follow our progress regularly.

Crossways September 2013

The back of the house

The sunken garden!

View of the garden from upstairs window