Definitely didn't expect this!

Hi there folks.
Our house revealed it's biggest surprise to date yesterday evening and to be honest, I am still trying to process it all.

Now, we all know that old houses have their share of idiosyncrasies. Odd little areas, hidden away nooks and crannies (as discovered in the previous post)

 So I'll be honest, having this little section of wood flooring in the kitchen was just one of those quirks that we didn't really think was too odd. After all it was a logical passage piece from the living area through to the back of the house.
Until last night, that is. While I was chatting to Mark, who was there to discuss the windows, we had a moment of curiosity. Knowing that the flooring had to come out soon anyway when the dampcourse was going to be done we decided to lift a floorboard to check.

Of course, I managed to choose a floorboard that was actually a part of a trapdoor! And what was underneath?

 Yep, stone steps.... we discovered the original cellar.

 At this stage I was like, oh gosh this is freaky but now we have to go down. I wasn't sure what to expect, a small, low, dank and musty unusable space that would just need to be filled in......
Nope, we got a bit more that that!

 A room big enough for me to stand in  comfortably, A stone alcove under the stairs.

 Another stone shelf next to that, with a selection of very cool bottles.

And this absolutely stunning original stone shelving "unit"

 This very unusual space which looks like it could have originally housed a stove as the structure above is actually a chimney.

There is a channel running through the floor with what seems to be a "stream" so we'll have to see what happens when it rains.

 The flooring is original flagstone too. It is an absolutely fascinating space to discover.

 There are also a few rusty hooks around the place too. I would imagine this space would have been a food preparation space.

 I made a start by just clearing some of the debris from the stairs to reveal the stone.

It is funny, we had  joked about finding a cellar but assumed that if there had been one it would have been filled in as the kitchen floor was concreted and though the outside signs were there they had been bricked up and concreted over. Just goes to show, you shouldn't assume!

It's all very exciting but also at the same time it creates it's own set of issues for us to deal with as it needs to be made structurally safe which means the kitchen floor will need to be taken out and new beams put in place. Looking at the "ceiling" of the cellar there appears to be metal sheeting above the joists and possible flags so who knows, we may discover that the concrete kitchen floor may well be covering an original flagstone floor too.

Going back to stripping wallpaper seems rather tame in comparison......

Expect the unexpected.

Good evening folks.
A few days ago I decided to give myself a bit of a break from wallpaper stripping and began to removes some of the random hooks and bits from the walls. Everything was going pretty normally until I came to remove a piece of wood and hooks from the kitchen wall and a chunk of the wall came off with it. In the dim light I could see what looked like a recess..... so of course I began to pull more away and discovered a covered up shelf.

Complete with a selection of jars. cracked teacups and a few other bits.

In the end I removed the tiles and worktop to reveal the full shelf. I think it's pretty cool to have been able to open up this hidden space even though it now means that I have to redesign my kitchen layout if I want to keep it.

Personally I want to keep it so I'll have to pull out my kitchen designer hat, dust it off and create a space that works around it which will be a bit of a fun challenge.

The folks who did the work were also kind enough to leave a piece of plasterboard inside with a tongue in cheek comment about who did all the work and who "thought" they did, long with the date and a moan about low pay lol (some things never change, do they?) so this little space has not seen the light of day since March 1974. 44 years ago, wow.

Well, now that I've had a few folks over for discussion and quotes, I now know where I need to fully strip off the paper so it's back to the walls again, this time armed with a steamer ......

Wish me luck lol. See you soon. 

I'm sick of wallpaper.....

Good evening folks.
Yep, I am now officially over stripping off wallpaper. It seems to be a bit of a never ending story.
Every time I think I have seen everything that a room has to offer I discover another fragment.
Take what will become the Master bedroom for example.
How many different coverings do you think there are in this room, three, four?
Nope, the total is seven!

The bottom one is my favourite but unfortunately it is so delicate I have only been able to salvage very small fragments of it.
I have quite a collection of the different patterns from all the rooms so far with a few creative ideas for them ...

Now I have got rid of all the wall paper that is coming off relatively easily it will be time to haul out the steam stripper for the rest. I have, however, decided to hold on till I have seen one of the builders tomorrow as some of the walls may not need to be totally cleared.
As to be expected in a house this age, some of the plaster has deteriorated and will need to be cleared and redone so I don't see the point of doing unnecessary work lol.

One last discovery which was an un-noticed thing was this

Usually when looking out of the window we were just enjoying the view as you can imagine but a few days ago I was taking a closer look at the barn roof and realised that, what I had assumed was a standard slate tile roof like the house, is in fact made up of stone.  I have to admit that I am in awe of the skill that it must  have taken to shape and split pieces of stone to create tiles. Even more interesting is that yesterday when it was pouring with rain I went into the barn to see how bad it leaks only to discover it is only leaking in two places. Not bad hey?

Well, that;s it for another day so I hope you have a good rest of the evening. I don't want to bore you with picture after picture of wall paper peelings but there's not much more happening at the moment.
Next week I am hoping to begin to clear some of the bits and pieces from the barn so that will make a change lol....

Three days in.

Good evening folks.
Well, it's been a few days now and I have been spending time doing three things: getting rid of carpets, pulling about a thousand nails and picture hooks from the walls (And I'm still finding them!) and removing carpets and linoleum. Dusty, smelly and grimy work but it certainly makes a difference to the feel of the house.
I think that by removing these quickly it has started to feel more like ours rather than someone else's.

It was important to me to get these jobs done this week and get them off to the tip because my transport left today. Yep, I am now sitting here without a car until my next lot of visitors arrive lol.
The advantage of this of course, is that I cannot get distracted and go off for a little drive to sit by a lake.

Four trips to the tip later we have no flooring in the upstairs and downstairs there is just the lounge to do.
Want to see some pics? This is the room I was working on from the previous post. The original hearth stone is still in place and undamaged. The floors are gorgeous wood and are still in excellent condition with very little signs of replacement work. I love how you can see the light wood where the carpet would have been originally with the wood stained darker around the edges as they did in the "good old days" Most of the wallpaper has been removed though I'm not going to get it all of as the walls will probably have most of the plaster stripped back when the insulation boards go in.

The door to this room was indeed hiding a little secret behind the flat ply. The original door is still there. I definitely have my work cut out to strip it back to the original wood but I'm going to give it a good go as I think this is the only original door left.

Then I got distracted..... Because the stairwell is so dark I thought if I opened it up at the top it would allow a lot more light through. Well, this is still a work in progress so I'll let you know what happens.

Other than that I have been peeling back the wallpapers in the other two bedrooms as well as getting rid of a few spiders along the way. Thankfully not as many as I first thought there would be.
The other interesting thing we noticed that we missed the first time is this. Looking out from the window onto the wall of the barn there is a bunch of cute ferns, beautifully self seeded (as they are around five meters off the ground) into a ?

Tomorrow, being Sunday, I am going to take it easy and perhaps wander off into the hills along the river for a bit so I will start again on the to do list on Monday.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

And so the journey begins!

Good evening folks.
Finally our journey begins in earnest. Yesterday we completed on the house and I was able to pick up the keys.
So, may I introduce you to our new abode, Allerton house, in Brough, Cumbria. This little gem is around 180 years old, built of stone with a rendered front. We also have, included with this, a barn and "garage" and an awful lot of work.....

 It felt like swimming through treacle to get to this stage, though when I really think about it, everything has gone smoothly and quickly in less than seven weeks from viewing to completing so we really can't complain.

Getting ready to open the door for the first time as the homeowner. Such a special feeling.

 You have to toast and celebrate with a spot of bubbly.

 Unfortunately my beautiful wife was not able to join me so, in anticipation we snapped this pic on our last viewing lol. Because we were not really planning on this move in terms of timing Susan will be remaining down South keeping the home fires burning for a while longer.
 I have been tasked with getting the "messy, dirty work" done so that Susan will be able to avoid all the dirt, dust and grime that I am bound to generate.
The first thing on my to do list is to strip back the property to the bare bones. This means stripping off all the wall paper, getting rid of the carpeting etc etc. (and begin the fun job of getting quotes for all the stuff that needs to be done that I can't do.) So, as I go through the process I will be sure to keep you in the loop, with lots of pictures too.
I am trying to avoid the temptation, not always successfully, of wandering through the house pulling bits and pieces off from everywhere and have chosen one room to begin on.

This was the room as we originally saw it. Fitted carpeting plus a rug and then that little funny piece of green rug on top. And walls covered in texture wall paper.  The door also looked like a flat piece of plywood had been pinned to the sides of the original door and I was definitely curious.

It didn't take long to begin to pull the paper off the walls. It was a real snapshot of the eras to see what was beneath - there are four different wall papers in this room.

Left to right is newest to oldest.... I have to say that I do love the earlier ones more. It will be interesting to see what the other rooms have underneath.
Tomorrow I will be getting to grips with the flooring and the door so I will be back.
Have a grand evening folks, I'm off to wander along the streams for a bit...

Counting down is so slow.....

Hi there everyone.
Don't you hate waiting? I certainly do! Luckily we are on the final stretch now, less than ten days before we get the keys so I thought I would pop on and show you a couple of pictures that hopefully will show you why we love this corner of the world.....

These first two are in the area close to our new home. lovely open countryside and wild meadows.

The next three are up close to Tan Hill pub (highest pub in England) Perhaps a fifteen, twenty minute drive away, hidden from view unless you stop and wander.

Then these last few are literally about sixty seconds walk from the house. The river runs through the town just down the street. We are above it and no risk of flooding which is fab.

This listed bridge crosses the river just up the lane and is always pretty. 

Lastly over the stile and you are off into the hills. So three guesses where I will be going on my first walk.......

This is such a tiny glimpse of our Eden, there is so much to see and do here and it is all exquisite. On the doorstep of the Pennines area of outstanding natural beauty and the Yorkshire Dales National Park with the added advantage of , if we want a change of scenery, we can be sitting next to Ullswater in The Lake District with a coffee in less than an hour.....

Take care folks and it won't be long before the refurbishment work can start in earnest.