Our new project House (and rock cave houses)
Discussion
Afternoon all,
Thought I would start a thread on our recent purchase (completed last Tuesday).
We managed to secure the house by putting a note through the front door when we drove past one day in March 2021. One thing led to another and after some gentle management we finally managed to get it over the line….
The house comes with approximately an acre of land, some cliffs and five rock caves. Two of the caves were houses and people lived in them until as recently as the mid 1900’s.
The house itself hasn’t been lived in for five years or so. It previously belonged to a sound tech/manager/producer for Robert Plant and the Rolling Stones (Benjy Le Fevre). Benjy sold it a couple in 2003 and it appears to have gradually been left to deteriorate until they moved out altogether in 2016.
There are numerous “urbex” type videos on YouTube of people exploring what is now our garden and our caves and I will add the links in for those who are interested.
So, some pics
First visit and viewing in March 2021
Interior:
The plot of land:
Frontage:
Rock Houses and caves in garden;
View from rear garden down to back of house
View from side of garden back to house
Found a greenhouse!
After an awful lot of patience on our part we completed on 21 Sept 21. It should have been the simplest of transactions as no chain and mostly cash buyers but it wasn’t. The unwillingness of the previous owners to outlay even the smallest amount of cash meant that they instructed cheap solicitors (who took their money and ran) and refused every offer obtained for them to have the house and land cleared.
Anyhoo, moving onto the last week. As we had some sunny weather I thought I would get cracking with clearing some of the garden. Ultimately it will all be landscaped and a new drive etc put in but I wanted to see what we had gotten ourself into
Night before completion, a quick visit with fingers crossed..
Day of completion. Frontage of house a bit of a mess
Garden with cave to the right hand side. Buried in brambles
“Path” to side of house, buried in foliage
Started some clearing to make a path
And found the gate which I knew was there but needed to uncover for plant equipment deliveries…
So I did the only thing I thought was the right thing.. and managed to get our tip car/s
t box Corsa up the hill and into the garden..
Took a bit of coaxing and some smoke….
Then did some more clearing;
To be continued…….
Thought I would start a thread on our recent purchase (completed last Tuesday).
We managed to secure the house by putting a note through the front door when we drove past one day in March 2021. One thing led to another and after some gentle management we finally managed to get it over the line….
The house comes with approximately an acre of land, some cliffs and five rock caves. Two of the caves were houses and people lived in them until as recently as the mid 1900’s.
The house itself hasn’t been lived in for five years or so. It previously belonged to a sound tech/manager/producer for Robert Plant and the Rolling Stones (Benjy Le Fevre). Benjy sold it a couple in 2003 and it appears to have gradually been left to deteriorate until they moved out altogether in 2016.
There are numerous “urbex” type videos on YouTube of people exploring what is now our garden and our caves and I will add the links in for those who are interested.
So, some pics
First visit and viewing in March 2021
Interior:
The plot of land:
Frontage:
Rock Houses and caves in garden;
View from rear garden down to back of house
View from side of garden back to house
Found a greenhouse!
After an awful lot of patience on our part we completed on 21 Sept 21. It should have been the simplest of transactions as no chain and mostly cash buyers but it wasn’t. The unwillingness of the previous owners to outlay even the smallest amount of cash meant that they instructed cheap solicitors (who took their money and ran) and refused every offer obtained for them to have the house and land cleared.
Anyhoo, moving onto the last week. As we had some sunny weather I thought I would get cracking with clearing some of the garden. Ultimately it will all be landscaped and a new drive etc put in but I wanted to see what we had gotten ourself into
Night before completion, a quick visit with fingers crossed..
Day of completion. Frontage of house a bit of a mess
Garden with cave to the right hand side. Buried in brambles
“Path” to side of house, buried in foliage
Started some clearing to make a path
And found the gate which I knew was there but needed to uncover for plant equipment deliveries…
So I did the only thing I thought was the right thing.. and managed to get our tip car/s
t box Corsa up the hill and into the garden..Took a bit of coaxing and some smoke….
Then did some more clearing;
To be continued…….
Edited by CTO on Wednesday 29th September 22:49
So, this takes us to Thursday evening of last week….
Corsa in the garden
Friday; flail mower delivered
Garden clearing begins in earnest…
From this;
To this
Cleared the front a bit
Rock houses reappear
“Found” a wasps nest and got stung….
Killed it with fire:
This should be a video if you click it. Starts with my OH saying the famous last words of “is this dangerous?)
Chopped down my first ever tree using a chainsaw for the first ever time
With Doggo for perspective;
Beer time;
If people are interested, I will try to keep some form of chronological picture account going on PH.
The plan is for the house to be taken back to brick inside, extended with a double height glass rear and internal mezzanine looking down to the kitchen area.
The caves are listed and will remain as they are, however the top cave on the cliff face will have a decking out front, a fire pit and a glass balcony front for us to be able to sit and look at the views and have a few vinos
To give you an idea of the place: YouTube “urbex”
videos are viewable here. Ignore the back stories that they give the place… made up rubbish..
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=skyupUg8sSQ
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QcG9tQbFGAA
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IhzQJaGQXpI
The videos above give much more detail to the contents of the rock houses and the people who lived there. You should also be able to see the top cave and our plan to have it as a snug/chill out area..
There is also a video on YouTube of the previous Rock House occupants finally getting a proper house…. In 1959…
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NykE6V3VNhE
My MIL remembers Annie Smith and has been to her “new house”. She was very relieved apparently as no she no longer needs to sweep her roof (as seen @16s)
Corsa in the garden
Friday; flail mower delivered
Garden clearing begins in earnest…
From this;
To this
Cleared the front a bit
Rock houses reappear
“Found” a wasps nest and got stung….
Killed it with fire:
This should be a video if you click it. Starts with my OH saying the famous last words of “is this dangerous?)
Chopped down my first ever tree using a chainsaw for the first ever time
With Doggo for perspective;
Beer time;
If people are interested, I will try to keep some form of chronological picture account going on PH.
The plan is for the house to be taken back to brick inside, extended with a double height glass rear and internal mezzanine looking down to the kitchen area.
The caves are listed and will remain as they are, however the top cave on the cliff face will have a decking out front, a fire pit and a glass balcony front for us to be able to sit and look at the views and have a few vinos
To give you an idea of the place: YouTube “urbex”
videos are viewable here. Ignore the back stories that they give the place… made up rubbish..
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=skyupUg8sSQ
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QcG9tQbFGAA
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IhzQJaGQXpI
The videos above give much more detail to the contents of the rock houses and the people who lived there. You should also be able to see the top cave and our plan to have it as a snug/chill out area..
There is also a video on YouTube of the previous Rock House occupants finally getting a proper house…. In 1959…
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NykE6V3VNhE
My MIL remembers Annie Smith and has been to her “new house”. She was very relieved apparently as no she no longer needs to sweep her roof (as seen @16s)
Edited by CTO on Monday 27th September 20:25
Edited by CTO on Monday 27th September 20:28
Evening all,
You’re very welcome wrt to sharing. There will no doubt be some calamities along the way
Location: Worcestershire, near Kidderminster
Flail mower was a bit lethal in a rapidly moving spinny blades kinda fashion. If you look at one of the pictures of the garden you will see a small drop off….. I dropped off that following the flail mower which was in gear and making progress… think a lemming in a garden and you’ll be quite close to what it looked and felt like….
I should add a disclaimer in here that prior to last Tuesday I had never used a brush cutter/chainsaw and didn’t know what a flail mower was…
Thanks to YouTube I am now basically an expert
Bonus has been that I get to buy lots of toys without having to justify them too much.
Since last week I now have
Stihl chainsaw
Chainsaw trousers
Chainsaw gloves
Chainsaw helmet
Stihl FS 460 Brushcutter
Associated work gear and harness
Hired brush cutter v new purchase
All of the noms…
The below is where I tried to pull down the greenhouse frame with the flail mower. Even in low gear and with diff lock on it still wouldn’t budge…..
The family member in the pic came back today with a disc cutter and cut it into pieces for collection tomorrow…..
You’re very welcome wrt to sharing. There will no doubt be some calamities along the way
Location: Worcestershire, near Kidderminster
Flail mower was a bit lethal in a rapidly moving spinny blades kinda fashion. If you look at one of the pictures of the garden you will see a small drop off….. I dropped off that following the flail mower which was in gear and making progress… think a lemming in a garden and you’ll be quite close to what it looked and felt like….
I should add a disclaimer in here that prior to last Tuesday I had never used a brush cutter/chainsaw and didn’t know what a flail mower was…
Thanks to YouTube I am now basically an expert
Bonus has been that I get to buy lots of toys without having to justify them too much.
Since last week I now have
Stihl chainsaw
Chainsaw trousers
Chainsaw gloves
Chainsaw helmet
Stihl FS 460 Brushcutter
Associated work gear and harness
Hired brush cutter v new purchase
All of the noms…
The below is where I tried to pull down the greenhouse frame with the flail mower. Even in low gear and with diff lock on it still wouldn’t budge…..
The family member in the pic came back today with a disc cutter and cut it into pieces for collection tomorrow…..
The Cat is a great pub, good choice!
The eventual plan is to install a shepherds hut at the bottom of the garden with a Norwegian wood fired hot tub and use the rock caves as a USP to market the shepherds hut via Airbnb.
Details for the costings and yields of the above can be found here;
https://whitepeakshepherdhuts.uk/2018/01/29/how-mu...
Details for the hot tubs can be found here:
https://www.kirami.fi/en/hot-tubs/original/origina...
Plan is maybe for us to have one of the wood fired tubs installed at the top cave (above the cliff). Figured it would be a nice place to sit and have a few drinks and take in the view…
Bonus of the wood fired affair is that it can be chemical free, drained into the land and closed down when not in use. I can fill
it from a hose in the morning, light a few logs and hop in around tea time/early eve…
I have raised the possibility with the o/h of a death slide back into the garden for rapid access when beers run out… she is not keen
The eventual plan is to install a shepherds hut at the bottom of the garden with a Norwegian wood fired hot tub and use the rock caves as a USP to market the shepherds hut via Airbnb.
Details for the costings and yields of the above can be found here;
https://whitepeakshepherdhuts.uk/2018/01/29/how-mu...
Details for the hot tubs can be found here:
https://www.kirami.fi/en/hot-tubs/original/origina...
Plan is maybe for us to have one of the wood fired tubs installed at the top cave (above the cliff). Figured it would be a nice place to sit and have a few drinks and take in the view…
Bonus of the wood fired affair is that it can be chemical free, drained into the land and closed down when not in use. I can fill
it from a hose in the morning, light a few logs and hop in around tea time/early eve…
I have raised the possibility with the o/h of a death slide back into the garden for rapid access when beers run out… she is not keen
Thanks all,
Current weather has put a hold on playing in the garden for a bit. I was half tempted to have a 1.5t mini excavator delivered tomorrow under the guise of “clearing some brambles”. Mainly I just fancied rampaging round the garden digging stuff up but figured I would probably just churn the ground up and shelved the idea.
Killing the wasps with fire went ok ish. The left hand side of the bush went up but the wasps seemed largely unscathed in their hovel on the right hand side. I have pledged to the o/h that I will go back tomorrow and finish the job properly though. I view it as a small win for every person who is scared of wasps (me) and who has tried to enjoy a quiet and relaxing pub in a
summer beer garden and been blighted by the vicious little yellow tw@ts.
I am expecting plans back for the extension soon from the architect and will post them. I’ve seen some really constructive feedback on other threads when people have done similar. Feel free to also point out obvious oversights/cock ups/stupidities as required
Re the alterations to the caves, we aren’t planning to alter the fabric of them (and likely wouldn’t be allowed to anyhow).
The main ones will be made habitable again for a place to sit and chill out, the small one at the top of the cliff will only have additions to the ground/frontage.
I am fortunate to be on reasonable terms (at present) with the local conservation officer. I engaged with them when having the exterior of our current house refreshed which is also a grade II listed building. Hopefully that relationship building will be a bonus in future.
Power is now being restored to the property and I am meeting a plumber at 9 in the morning to fix a few of the previous owners bodges and then switch the water on and run it all through.
I also plan to discover/uncover our LPG tank which is buried to the left of the house and two/three? more caves. If I get the opportunity I will try to cut a path to the top cave and get some pics. It is featured in the bloody YouTubers videos but I haven’t yet had sight of it..
Cheers all.
Current weather has put a hold on playing in the garden for a bit. I was half tempted to have a 1.5t mini excavator delivered tomorrow under the guise of “clearing some brambles”. Mainly I just fancied rampaging round the garden digging stuff up but figured I would probably just churn the ground up and shelved the idea.
Killing the wasps with fire went ok ish. The left hand side of the bush went up but the wasps seemed largely unscathed in their hovel on the right hand side. I have pledged to the o/h that I will go back tomorrow and finish the job properly though. I view it as a small win for every person who is scared of wasps (me) and who has tried to enjoy a quiet and relaxing pub in a
summer beer garden and been blighted by the vicious little yellow tw@ts.
I am expecting plans back for the extension soon from the architect and will post them. I’ve seen some really constructive feedback on other threads when people have done similar. Feel free to also point out obvious oversights/cock ups/stupidities as required
Re the alterations to the caves, we aren’t planning to alter the fabric of them (and likely wouldn’t be allowed to anyhow).
The main ones will be made habitable again for a place to sit and chill out, the small one at the top of the cliff will only have additions to the ground/frontage.
I am fortunate to be on reasonable terms (at present) with the local conservation officer. I engaged with them when having the exterior of our current house refreshed which is also a grade II listed building. Hopefully that relationship building will be a bonus in future.
Power is now being restored to the property and I am meeting a plumber at 9 in the morning to fix a few of the previous owners bodges and then switch the water on and run it all through.
I also plan to discover/uncover our LPG tank which is buried to the left of the house and two/three? more caves. If I get the opportunity I will try to cut a path to the top cave and get some pics. It is featured in the bloody YouTubers videos but I haven’t yet had sight of it..
Cheers all.
A bit of further house based detail/trivia…
In some of the pics you will notice that the windows all have bars on them.
The reason for that is that the original owner had the house as his place in the country when not in London, he also had a number of record discs for recognition of sales at the house from his work with one of the locals to this area
The house was broken into and the discs stolen, and then broken into again once they were replaced. At that point the owner had the window bars installed and they have remained in place ever since.
Added poptastic trivia is that the previous owner was also one of the two people (the other being John Paul Jones) who found John (Bonzo) Bonham when he sadly passed away in 1980……
Edited to add linky: https://www.soundhistoria.com/benji-lefevre/
In some of the pics you will notice that the windows all have bars on them.
The reason for that is that the original owner had the house as his place in the country when not in London, he also had a number of record discs for recognition of sales at the house from his work with one of the locals to this area
The house was broken into and the discs stolen, and then broken into again once they were replaced. At that point the owner had the window bars installed and they have remained in place ever since.
Added poptastic trivia is that the previous owner was also one of the two people (the other being John Paul Jones) who found John (Bonzo) Bonham when he sadly passed away in 1980……
Edited to add linky: https://www.soundhistoria.com/benji-lefevre/
Edited by CTO on Wednesday 29th September 22:44
No videos of wasp burning, sadly. I had a bit to do at the house today and figured antagonising them was a bad bad thing…
So, update, for those of you hard of sleeping and still following
Today:
Early morning sunny pic of garden
Today I thought it was probably a good idea to try and find the LPG tank, see what state it’s in and clear the area around it…
LPG tank is in here, somewhere:
Found a “pond” and nearly fell in, with brushcutter attached:
Found LPG tank:
Cleared some stuff and unearthed the two smaller caves. These will eventually be part of a side drive for storing lawn mower and garden stuff…
Had a plumber round to undo the previous owners bodges…. and we now have running water
Unearthed this in the garden, made me laugh
Tested the power and found these beauties:
Did a bit more bush topiary and tidied the end of the garden where the greenhouse was.
From this;
To this;
The rest of the day was getting inside the rock houses finally and cutting a path to the cliff based rock house…
TBC: gonna go and and have some dinner…..
PS: let me know if the level of detail is too much/tedious. Happy to keep it more succinct if preferable….
Cheers
So, update, for those of you hard of sleeping and still following
Today:
Early morning sunny pic of garden
Today I thought it was probably a good idea to try and find the LPG tank, see what state it’s in and clear the area around it…
LPG tank is in here, somewhere:
Found a “pond” and nearly fell in, with brushcutter attached:
Found LPG tank:
Cleared some stuff and unearthed the two smaller caves. These will eventually be part of a side drive for storing lawn mower and garden stuff…
Had a plumber round to undo the previous owners bodges…. and we now have running water
Unearthed this in the garden, made me laugh
Tested the power and found these beauties:
Did a bit more bush topiary and tidied the end of the garden where the greenhouse was.
From this;
To this;
The rest of the day was getting inside the rock houses finally and cutting a path to the cliff based rock house…
TBC: gonna go and and have some dinner…..
PS: let me know if the level of detail is too much/tedious. Happy to keep it more succinct if preferable….
Cheers
Thanks all,
Let’s keep going then:
I finally managed to get inside the two main rock houses that are in the garden;
Still full of the previous elderly owners belongings…. In the process of being emptied by them and due to complete doing so tomorrow. These pics should give you an idea of the scale inside though…
Then I did a bit more farting about and clearing the bottom part of the garden;
Then decided to focus on the rock cliff cave, clearing the sandstone steps at the base of the slope and the brush leading to the cave itself:
Sandstone steps;
Side profile;
Standing at the top of the steps with the beginning of a path I am cutting:
More path cutting:
And a bit more;
View from the halfway point:
Starting to see the cave emerge from the undergrowth:
Finally….
They look fairly small in those pics but with added fat bloke for scale;
View from the front outwards. Bit obscured currently by trees which won’t be there much longer because chainsaw
Pics of view around trees
Internal sections of the cave and ? bedroom for a small person
Think this was where the cooking/fire was, chimney is cut out above
Found some ancient artefacts/junk left from the previous owners….. why on earth you would cart this all the way up here is beyond me……….
Having said that, maybe he was a PHer…
Found a whole box of these (weird) things
And this seemed to make me thoughtful
And then, finally, found these in the house today. Planning to use them to do a bit of digging re the caves and the previous occupants…
Mad that someone once lived in the bottom caves and the one in the cliff ;
Anyhooo…. That’s it for todays rambling about the place. Pleased to have finally cut a path to the top cave, not looking forward to emptying it of all the stuff
Cheers all
Let’s keep going then:
I finally managed to get inside the two main rock houses that are in the garden;
Still full of the previous elderly owners belongings…. In the process of being emptied by them and due to complete doing so tomorrow. These pics should give you an idea of the scale inside though…
Then I did a bit more farting about and clearing the bottom part of the garden;
Then decided to focus on the rock cliff cave, clearing the sandstone steps at the base of the slope and the brush leading to the cave itself:
Sandstone steps;
Side profile;
Standing at the top of the steps with the beginning of a path I am cutting:
More path cutting:
And a bit more;
View from the halfway point:
Starting to see the cave emerge from the undergrowth:
Finally….
They look fairly small in those pics but with added fat bloke for scale;
View from the front outwards. Bit obscured currently by trees which won’t be there much longer because chainsaw
Pics of view around trees
Internal sections of the cave and ? bedroom for a small person
Think this was where the cooking/fire was, chimney is cut out above
Found some ancient artefacts/junk left from the previous owners….. why on earth you would cart this all the way up here is beyond me……….
Having said that, maybe he was a PHer…
Found a whole box of these (weird) things
And this seemed to make me thoughtful
And then, finally, found these in the house today. Planning to use them to do a bit of digging re the caves and the previous occupants…
Mad that someone once lived in the bottom caves and the one in the cliff ;
Anyhooo…. That’s it for todays rambling about the place. Pleased to have finally cut a path to the top cave, not looking forward to emptying it of all the stuff
Cheers all
Edited by CTO on Wednesday 29th September 21:36
dudleybloke said:
CTO said:
A rave in the cave is definitely in the plan for when it is all finished…
Big fish little fish and all that
I can bring the lasers. Big fish little fish and all that
https://youtu.be/S_GDa33Mv2A
Rampant Golf said:
Great update, keep it coming.
Quick one on the caves...how damp are they? They look to be sandstone.
Until they are fully empty tomorrow it’s hard to tell tbh. The O/H is of the opinion that they will be damp and prohibitively expensive (planning allowing, which they won’t) to convert into actual airbnb accommodation. That’s the main reason we will possibly in future go down the shepherds hut route with the rock houses as a curio/USP to attract revenue.Quick one on the caves...how damp are they? They look to be sandstone.
In the pics of the rock cave with all the stuff still in from the previous owners there is apparently an old cooking range cut into the rock from the last inhabitants back in the fifties. If all goes to plan and they clear their stuff out tomorrow I will head over and get some pics
Thanks all for the feedback
Keen to hear more about the VAT thing if it’s applicable…Any money saved is always a good thing.
A few pics from this morning so far
Found the cooker….
Managed to get it working
The range is made by “Lofra”, not sure if that’s any good or not? We will be getting rid of it so any ideas of ways/places to sell it would be appreciated
Found this doorway in the lounge, previously hidden behind a foam cutout that filled the doorway…. No, I’m not sure why either…
Uncovered the lounge flooring…. That will be kept and polished eventually
And, wasp update…
They have abandoned the nest that I partially burnt to the ground;
……..And moved in to the ivy at the front of the house, meaning I now have to run in and out of the house to avoid them…
Absolute tw@ts
Edited to sort formatting
Keen to hear more about the VAT thing if it’s applicable…Any money saved is always a good thing.
A few pics from this morning so far
Found the cooker….
Managed to get it working
The range is made by “Lofra”, not sure if that’s any good or not? We will be getting rid of it so any ideas of ways/places to sell it would be appreciated
Found this doorway in the lounge, previously hidden behind a foam cutout that filled the doorway…. No, I’m not sure why either…
Uncovered the lounge flooring…. That will be kept and polished eventually
And, wasp update…
They have abandoned the nest that I partially burnt to the ground;
……..And moved in to the ivy at the front of the house, meaning I now have to run in and out of the house to avoid them…
Absolute tw@ts
Edited to sort formatting
Edited by CTO on Saturday 2nd October 11:19
Evening all,
I’m gonna try and answer some of the questions that have been posted, before I forget…
Definitely aware of the caves at Kinver, we are about five miles away from their ones (and we don’t charge people to have a nose about).
So far the only people who have asked if they can pop back and bring kids/see how things are getting on are some of the locals, the neighbours daughter and partner, the delivery driver from “Hire it”, the builder that came to quote it today, the landscaper that came with him and the guy from the estate agents who we asked over to give us a pre and post Valuation this avo
Brave/Daft? Bit of both tbh. The figures are all lining up though so both aspects are smaller than one might imagine
Lounge floor, yep we knew it was there. Been blessed with it largely being covered in its entirety by the large rug that is in the pics.
Venetian masks: Are those the Chinesey type face things in the cave? I googled and that was the only similar images that came up. All of the masks in the top cave are small though (hand sized) so I’m not sure what use they could be to anyone?
The cutback; is being stored for burning on bonfire night. Gonna get some friends round for beers and burnyness
Old well: going to keep an eye out for it, thanks. I’ll probably fall down it though, knowing my luck #unluckyalf…
So, onto today. Mainly a bit of pottering about tbh and talking to builders and estate agents etc. The previous owners did finally manage to finish clearing their stuff out of the house (ten days after completion) but they admitted defeat with the rock cave full of odds and ends, I will sort it being cleared to landfill and send them the bill.
Having a casual mooch about turned up some interesting bits though and some nice fittings that we hadn’t noticed before…
log burner with hot plate in the lounge;
^^^ examining this was a bit of a moment of realisation. We could never work out why it was in the middle of the floor rather than in the alcove…. Then we spotted today that it was a toploading variant…..
check the height of the lintel…..
Cave still full of belongings
Bosch drill still in its box, looks in good working order tbf…
Halfords pressure washer, still in box
Found a beautiful brass lamp which will now become the feature light in the oak porch which will be built at the front of the house
Glass bottles from Brum
View from inside the cave looking out towards the garden;
Found that the manky kitchen has inch thick marble tops…
And some lovely old saucepans…
And then took some pics of some of the rooms, now they have finally been cleared….
Future upstairs office
Future guest bedroom
Main bedroom, currently triple aspect and will be extend to the left to form a dressing room and ensuite
Upstairs landing. The left wall will become a glass balcony/mezzanine type effort which will overlook the kitchen and also out to the rear garden via a double height glass wall… (in theory, if we have enough cash. If not, it will be chipboard and I’ll cut a hole in it with a jigsaw)
Downstairs hall and cloak. Stairs will be repositioned and dead space under them will be reclaimed. Stained glass feature will be being kept though and moved somewhere else in the house…
View from end of lounge back towards the entrance hall…
And a selfie, with our inherited furnishings and surrounded by filth
Aaaaaaaaaaaaand, that’s about it. Not a huge amount of material progress but we do now have power, water, light, a kettle, some rich tea biscuits and a spare lamp shade
Cheers all.
I’m gonna try and answer some of the questions that have been posted, before I forget…
Definitely aware of the caves at Kinver, we are about five miles away from their ones (and we don’t charge people to have a nose about).
So far the only people who have asked if they can pop back and bring kids/see how things are getting on are some of the locals, the neighbours daughter and partner, the delivery driver from “Hire it”, the builder that came to quote it today, the landscaper that came with him and the guy from the estate agents who we asked over to give us a pre and post Valuation this avo
Brave/Daft? Bit of both tbh. The figures are all lining up though so both aspects are smaller than one might imagine
Lounge floor, yep we knew it was there. Been blessed with it largely being covered in its entirety by the large rug that is in the pics.
Venetian masks: Are those the Chinesey type face things in the cave? I googled and that was the only similar images that came up. All of the masks in the top cave are small though (hand sized) so I’m not sure what use they could be to anyone?
The cutback; is being stored for burning on bonfire night. Gonna get some friends round for beers and burnyness
Old well: going to keep an eye out for it, thanks. I’ll probably fall down it though, knowing my luck #unluckyalf…
So, onto today. Mainly a bit of pottering about tbh and talking to builders and estate agents etc. The previous owners did finally manage to finish clearing their stuff out of the house (ten days after completion) but they admitted defeat with the rock cave full of odds and ends, I will sort it being cleared to landfill and send them the bill.
Having a casual mooch about turned up some interesting bits though and some nice fittings that we hadn’t noticed before…
log burner with hot plate in the lounge;
^^^ examining this was a bit of a moment of realisation. We could never work out why it was in the middle of the floor rather than in the alcove…. Then we spotted today that it was a toploading variant…..
check the height of the lintel…..
Cave still full of belongings
Bosch drill still in its box, looks in good working order tbf…
Halfords pressure washer, still in box
Found a beautiful brass lamp which will now become the feature light in the oak porch which will be built at the front of the house
Glass bottles from Brum
View from inside the cave looking out towards the garden;
Found that the manky kitchen has inch thick marble tops…
And some lovely old saucepans…
And then took some pics of some of the rooms, now they have finally been cleared….
Future upstairs office
Future guest bedroom
Main bedroom, currently triple aspect and will be extend to the left to form a dressing room and ensuite
Upstairs landing. The left wall will become a glass balcony/mezzanine type effort which will overlook the kitchen and also out to the rear garden via a double height glass wall… (in theory, if we have enough cash. If not, it will be chipboard and I’ll cut a hole in it with a jigsaw)
Downstairs hall and cloak. Stairs will be repositioned and dead space under them will be reclaimed. Stained glass feature will be being kept though and moved somewhere else in the house…
View from end of lounge back towards the entrance hall…
And a selfie, with our inherited furnishings and surrounded by filth
Aaaaaaaaaaaaand, that’s about it. Not a huge amount of material progress but we do now have power, water, light, a kettle, some rich tea biscuits and a spare lamp shade
Cheers all.
Edited by CTO on Tuesday 5th October 18:22
Steve_W said:
Super thread OP, like the cocking about picture!
A quick shufti on EBay shows those decorative Venetian wall masks going for anything between 6 and 140 quid, depending on brand!
Being ex-Worcester I had a rough idea where the house would be. OT, but I still grin like a child whenever I'm back that way and see signs for Lickey End, especially since Terry Pratchett used the name to describe a sheep disease.
Indeed, we are fortunate enough to be blessed with both Lickey End and it’s neighbouring cousin within photobombing distance A quick shufti on EBay shows those decorative Venetian wall masks going for anything between 6 and 140 quid, depending on brand!
Being ex-Worcester I had a rough idea where the house would be. OT, but I still grin like a child whenever I'm back that way and see signs for Lickey End, especially since Terry Pratchett used the name to describe a sheep disease.
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