Leaving home in the UK to move to France
Just to prove I do listen to my kind readers and respond to their requests, here, especially for Carl, are some of the pictures of my “grottage” near Market Rasen, Lincolnshire. Affectionately known as “The Hammer House of Horrors” when I bought it because it was in such an appalling state, having been largely lived in by animals for years.
As ever, photographs are accompanied by relevant text from my book, Sell the Pig, for the benefit of those who have not read it and to link things together for those who have.
“I wasn’t particularly thinking of buying a property at this stage in my life, and certainly was not certain that that area was where I wanted to put down long-term roots, having been there barely six months. But, like the Elephant’s Child, I am full of “’satiable curtiosity”.
“So when a neighbour told me horror stories of a cottage in the hamlet that was coming up for sale, I simply had to go and take a look at it. She told me it had been repossessed by the mortgage company when the former occupant, who apparently had some mental health issues, fell behind with payments and became unable to live there on her own any more.
“According to my source, the house was in very poor condition, as she’d kept all of her animals indoors for years – and I do mean all. Apparently the menagerie included dogs, cats, chickens and goats.”
Main bedroom
“It’s hard to say which of our senses was assaulted first. The smell was indescribable. But my eye was immediately drawn to the tell-tale dark brown stains all over the floors and the door frames, wherever we looked.
“Before we’d even stepped over the threshold Mother was already saying “No, oh no.” But Auntie, who was surprisingly intrepid, was bumbling about peeping into rooms and cupboards and following me up the stairs and round the bedrooms – very brave, as parts of the upstairs floor boards had been rotted away with presumably several years’ accumulation of animal urine.”
First impressions on entering – the “kitchen”
….”I loved my cottage, now promoted from grottage, with a lovely garden, all created by my own hands. My predecessor there obviously had some very serious issues as, once I started digging in the mass of nettles and runaway lonicera nitida which was all there was of a garden, all I came up with was endless pairs of tights inside Walkers’ crisp packets.
“Not sure which flavour. The blue bags. I only like the plain ones so I don’t know the colours of the different flavours. But whatever the former resident had been trying to achieve, I can tell you that no matter what soil you plant that combination in, it simply doesn’t grow into anything.”
The garden, as I saw it first
That’s your lot for today, but I promise to show you some of the “after” photographs, after the promotion from grottage to cottage. Do please leave me your comments and as ever, this blog is driven by you. What yea ask for shall be given unto thee, or something like that.
Val Grey
1st January 2014 @ 11:07 am
Nice to see these Tottie, look forward to seeing the ‘after’ pics x
Tottie
1st January 2014 @ 11:10 am
I certainly will post those for you soon.
Mickistokoe Stokoe
1st January 2014 @ 11:21 am
Wow! More of a challenge than I realised! Think blue packets are cheese & onion favoured crisps. More,please!
Tottie
1st January 2014 @ 11:26 am
Well if you ever want to grow a cheese and onion crisp bush, I can tell you they don’t do well in chalky soil 😉
Susan Jackson
1st January 2014 @ 11:26 am
Thanks for sharing. I love the fact your Aunt egged you on.
Tottie
1st January 2014 @ 11:27 am
I’m so pleased she did, it was a lovely place.
Alex Potter
1st January 2014 @ 11:41 am
I used to love being there, Tots, especially when it was just me and Meic 🙂
Tottie
1st January 2014 @ 12:09 pm
Gee thanks, dear! 🙂
Marilyn Medici
1st January 2014 @ 4:04 pm
Thank you for sharing these, Tottie. I enjoy seeing before and after pics, so I look forward to seeing the results of your labors. 🙂 Among other things, my husband used to buy houses at auction that were even worse than this — sometimes filled from floor to ceiling with trash, animal feces, etc.! He would rehab them and then sell for a profit. It was lucrative at the time, but not now.
Tottie
1st January 2014 @ 4:09 pm
I think these days it needs to be a labour of love as there’s not the profit to be made in it any more, sadly.
Donna Townsend
1st January 2014 @ 4:05 pm
Thanks for putting this in context. Of course you know we will want to see more of your other homes, right? Happy New Year to you!
Tottie
1st January 2014 @ 4:08 pm
There will be more, fear not 😉 There are some of the Photos page of the website
Jill Pennington
2nd January 2014 @ 3:58 pm
Fabulous decor, my kinda house 😉
Tottie
2nd January 2014 @ 4:08 pm
Very fragrant, too 😉