Well, we thought it was time we shared a few photos of our new home with you. This sea of snowdrops (or snowbells, as they are called here in Herefordshire) was just one of the wonderful suprises which welcomed us on the day we completed on our new home. They cover the top part of the garden which is a small and secluded woodland area. We are hopeful that Spring may bring bluebells - we can hardly wait to find out!
We have a lot of work to do at the house and with the builders due to start work in a day or so, Mike has made his own inroad into the renovation work; and made some interesting discoveries. We believe the house dates to the mid 1700s, it is rich with original features including a flagstone floor, a winding stone staircase, wooden floors and doors, heavily timbered walls and wattle and daub (apparently made from chestnut wood, something which was particular to Herefordshire.)
Mike has removed the 50s tiled fireplace in the dining room and revealed large old timbers in the wall which we will make a feature of. Fortunately, the previous owners who had lived there since the 1950s didn't do much in the way of modernising the house so thankfully it has retained a great deal of character - including a stone plinth set into the hall which we understand is a pig salting block! There is a tumbledown stone pigsty in the garden too.
Although it hasn't been modernised, it does lack certain comforts and requires a good deal of TLC to bring out the wonderful old features. One of the first tasks is to install a Rayburn and radiators so we can be nice and cosy! It will take us some time to fully restore the house and outbuildings, indeed it will be a labour of love. But we are looking forward to it and will keep you informed of our trials and tribulations! The hamlet in which we now live is beautiful and very friendly, we are sure we will be perfectly happy here. For the time being, we are dividing our time between Oxfordshire and Herefordshire but as soon as the necessary work is done in the next few weeks, we will move in permanently, along with Dennis our cat! It is business as usual at Vintage Home and in the coming weeks, we shall turn our attentions to updating the website on a regular basis again.
Have a wonderful Valentine's Day and we'll be back soon with more photos!
