Blog

Spotted in Ashford, Kent, this week's property love has oodles of potential. Look beyond the chintz and gas fireplaces and there is a beautiful house waiting to be revitalised. The rooms have beautiful, original cornicing and fireplaces waiting to be uncovered. The rooms are great sizes and natural light streams through from the large original sash windows. 

I can imagine what it will look like when it's finished, once it's been stripped back to the bare bones and its Victorian features carefully renovated.

A handmade kitchen with a big old farmhouse table, antique chandeliers, a pared back colour scheme and an eclectic mix of modern and vintage furniture. I'd plant a big wisteria at the front and, although I know you don't need the extra room (!) I'd put a large summer house in the garden too. If money was no object... sigh...

It's got a lot of land with it, 17 acres in fact, so I'd divide it up and rent it out to equestrian enthusiasts - it already has stables!

Lodge Farm is on the market for £750,000

On today's Property love blog post: a beautiful 7 bedroom Grade II listed house, dating back to the late 17th century found in Ditchingham near Bungay in Suffolk.

With bag-fulls of potential, this house is not for the faint hearted. Not only will you need to stump up for the auction purchase price which is guided at between £275,000 to £295,000 (I expect it will go above this), you'll need many £1000s more to renovate it. And because it is Grade II listed, all of the renovations will have to meet with the approval of the local planning authority. But once renovated, this would make the most wonderful family home.

Although buying a listed building might seem a little daunting, you are in fact buying a piece of history. All buildings built before 1700 which survive in anything like their original condition are listed, as are most of those built between 1700 and 1840. According to English Heritage, there are approximately 374,081 listed buildings in England alone. The listing categories are defined as:

- Grade I buildings are of exceptional interest, sometimes considered to be internationally important; only 2.5% of listed buildings are Grade I
- Grade II* buildings are particularly important buildings of more than special interest; 5.5% of listed buildings are Grade II*
- Grade II buildings are nationally important and of special interest; 92% of all listed buildings are in this class and it is the most likely grade of listing for a home owner.

For those of you who might be interested, the auction is taking place on 21 June through Brown & Co I'll happily project manage the renovation for you!

We all love lazy mornings.

This is the lazy morning view of our bedroom. Is it next on the list to be redecorated?!

When we moved into our house back in 2006 we did quite a lot of work to it, which you can see by visiting this blog post about our renovations. We recently redecorated our living room as it was starting to look a bit tired around the edges and we decided to go for a colour change. The new colour needed to work well with the existing curtains and furniture. Having said that, some of the furniture and pictures did get the heave ho! 

We settled on Farrow and Ball's Hardwick White and took the colour up over the cornice and all of the woodwork too (including the mirror over the mantle). It goes brilliantly with the curtains and although it's a greeny-grey, it has almost a sandy colour in some light. 

We also replaced the large picture on the wall with some framed Penguin book cover postacrds. 

Here's a before photo

Here are some after pictures

My husband was away working in Spain so I look the opportunity to pop up to mum's in Suffolk for the Bank Holiday weekend. It was the first weekend for ages where the weather forecast was great so we decided to join the crowds and head for the beach. 

Suffolk (and Norfolk!) has a beautiful coast line, from sandy beaches in Walberswick to the shingle beach at Southwold, which is also home to rows of multi-coloured beach huts and a delightful old fashioned pier. 

We set off, headed for Aldeburgh - not too far from Ipswich so I'd guess around an hour or so from London. It was beautifully sunny but pretty windy, so we were glad we'd backed the woolies! 

With car parking only £3 for the day and a huge choice of places to have lunch, it really is a fabulous choice for a day out. 

Below are some snaps from the day, all taken with my iphone! I noticed when putting this post together that most of the photos are of the beach! Next time I go, I'll make sure to take some snaps of the pretty shops and cafes.