. . . to see our old home now doing B&B. Mum's flat is let separately and they've done a good job down there. HOW on earth they got our huge cast iron Hergom stove down from the main kitchen to mum's inglenook is beyond me! They needed some strong blokes for that. HERE:
They are also letting the ground and first floors (so are living in the attic suite). They haven't changed anything and most of the furniture is what we sold them. Don't care for the absolutely hideous pink sofas in the living room though! HERE 2 One of the reviews - much of the antique furniture we sold them is just where we left it - including our magnificent bed, which we couldn't get up the stairs here! - mentions the furniture looking like it "fits the place as if it were born with it." The "fresh delicate flower painted on the chimney" was my work . . . Glad it has remained and not been painted over.
"Like a fairy tale. A charming house in the middle of picturesque Welsh hills. The room is exceptional. Every single piece of furniture fits the place as if it were born with it. Many little details kept us amazed during the whole stay: the fine bed linen, the fresh delicate flower painted on the chimney, the beautiful hand-bound welcoming booklet, the discrete bottle of bubble bath sitting on the edge of the tub. And I almost forgot the delicious breakfast and fascinating hosts. You cannot dream of a better place to spend a romantic holiday or to visit South Wales."
. . . and we were lucky enough to spend half our lives there. Here it is when we first bought it at the end of the 1980s . . .
They bought our house to offer residential book-binding courses and did a wonderful job of turning our lovely stables into his workshops for this. I am guessing that Covid didn't help his cause, hence the B&B. That house HAS to earn its keep as it cost a bomb to heat before prices shot up.
Right, some attic tidying is on the menu for this morning . . .
Nice to find out what is happening at your old home - and to know it's being cared for
ReplyDeleteFor all that he was an impossible PITA to deal with over the sale (had to leave him to the head honcho at our estate agent's) he did really love the house (as did his wife) and they were the right people for it. They came in with fresh money (it had taken every penny of ours, AND more besides) and did the jobs that we couldn't afford. We had a quote of £20,000 just to limewash it!
DeleteHow lovely to see your old home so cared for and what a good idea for them to offer B&B. I once had to deliver a prescription to a house we had sold, went back and said she's painted my living room bright pink and dug all my roses up. My boss said well you don't live there any more and its hers. True of course but the loss of the roses rankled. Hugs Gill Xx
ReplyDeleteWell, it's a huge house for just two people to live in. 8 bedrooms and a granny flat! What a shame all your roses were dug up from your old home. Same thing happened at Keith's mum's house as it got sold to an Indian landlord who wanted no maintenance . . . Down came the beautiful red May trees, and out came all the plantings.
DeleteIt is due to your years of work in repairing and maintaining that the house can take on this new dimension. I agree that the ugly sofas [and chaise lounge in the same color and a parrot green chair] are jarring discords in otherwise traditional decor. Chintz patterns or even a more formal jacquard would be more in keeping with the antiques and general ambience.
ReplyDeleteI wonder: did the mischievous 'presence' in one of the rooms remain or depart?
Thank you my dear - you have been along for much of the journey so you know how much we had to do. The bits that jar are the bits added since we left. I did wonder about the presence too - think it was "fed" by childrens' energy and teenage angst, so perhaps it all calmed down there.
DeleteGood to see how your old home is going.
ReplyDeletePerhaps they will offer courses in the future.
I am sure that the courses would be ongoing, just perhaps not many takers with the fiscal state of the country. At least they haven't changed any of our decorating to garish colours!
DeleteHow interesting. I agree about the sofas. Pretty darn ugly.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
They look like they came from a bargain basement (perhaps even a charity shop?!)
DeleteYou are lucky to see your home so well cared for, apart from the pink. When I saw our old farmhouse up for sale only a few years later I couldn't get past the fact that they had chopped down the climbing roses over the front door and the honeysuckle and wisteria on the main wall. I just hoped the new buyers treated the garden better.
ReplyDeleteThat's so upsetting. I don't know if - when people clearly aren't gardeners - they think anything on a wall is like Ivy, and shouldn't be there? Garden looks pretty much the same, apart from the rampant rose which was down at mum's, and it truly loved it there and grew mightily each season.
DeleteIt is a beautiful house and would be a lovely place to stay. I have forgotten why you relocated? Too big, too expensive? Isolated? I rather like the pink sofas, in a ''hotel'' setting---not for one's personal home.
ReplyDeleteIt was far too big for just us two - 8 bedrooms and a granny flat. We didn't need the land either (it had 5 1/2 acres). Plus the costs of living there too high for our pensions.
DeleteThat must feel nice to see your old home being looked after and appreciated. Shame about the sofas though, but how lovely to see your blue bedroom and headboard! We are only ever custodians and as you say you were privileged to live there and for so long too. Sarah x
ReplyDeleteWe always said we were just custodians, and we were there 32 years - time for someone else to cherish it. A shame in some ways as we could have lived on just the ground floor (or down in mum's flat) with Keith as he is as all on one level, and bathrooms on every floor.
DeleteI expect you are in two minds about the transformation, one welcomes it, the other says 'what are they doing to my house'. But the house definitely has a new lease of life.
ReplyDeleteThey were the right people for it, and he sold his house very well so had plenty of money to do the jobs which needed doing, and care for it into the future. We just had our pensions, having spent all our money on doing Ynyswen up. I was glad to walk away but it hit Keith and Tam hard.
DeleteIts a beautiful house BB and good to see it is still being cared for. It looks a lovely place to stay too. We've only ever lived in this house but when and if we move I don't want to come back and see what new owners have done as these houses are bought and often totally over extended and gardens ripped up :( I only drove past my mom and dad's old house once - never again!!!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like your house would be totally lost in a "refurb", which is a shame. The house I grew up in is much the same, but I believe they changed the staircase so it went the other way, and moved the bathroom. (He was a builder). It doesn't pay to go back though.
DeleteWhat a charming home!! LOVE the floor in the kitchen area! That kitchen and home reminds me of the one frequented in the show Last Tango in Halifax!
ReplyDeleteDownstairs in mum's flat, the flagstones were original. There had been some in the main kitchen, so we reinstated them (hard to find at the right price, as reclamation yards expensive. Some were "reclaimed" from a pigsty!!) Never seen LT in H, but the house they used looks very grand.
DeleteHow lovely to see you old home is being cared for so well, you gave it everything you had and now it's their turn to love it and try and make it pay it's way. It's nice that the reviews mention lovely things that YOU left the house with.
ReplyDeleteWe drove past our old house yesterday and it's looking sad and very overgrown, which is strange at this time of year as it always looks sad but sparse when we were there. We did both comment on the fact they they had moved all the sheds around though. I wonder if they still have all the furniture that we left the house with?
Gosh, you're right there Sue. Every penny and more! We thought of letting out mum's flat but then we had problems with the chimney and water ingress, and couldn't afford the Big Chunk of Money to fix it.
DeleteWhat a shame your old house isn't so well cared for any more. Perhaps there has been ill health and they've not been able to manage it as you did?
It is a wonderful thing to see that your home is being tended with the same love that you gave to it. But I am confused about the bright pink sofas, and the strange green colored one in the bedrooms with the iron bedsteads, along with the hot pink settee in the bedroom with the wonderful victorian bed. (I will have to take a picture of mine someday. Not so different and I know that you would love it.) But those sofas! The colors are wrong. The style is out of place. They confuse me. All I can say is that I hope they are comfy.
ReplyDeleteWell, at least it's only one's sense of taste which is offended. We had it "just so". I smiled when I saw my old chair made from cotton bobbins down in mum's still. I bought that to sell on, but no interest, so I was glad to sell it with the house.
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