Friday 30 August 2024

Why we moved to Wales II - updated with photo of house, barns and yard.

 

Our wild river valley in Autumn.  This is the view we had as we dropped down the little hill that first time.


"We really DID search all over for houses.  We viewed a lovely farmhouse in Altarnun, near Bodmin Moor in Cornwall.  There was a lovely level field with a stone wall on one side of it, and a big fireplace in the kitchen with a massive granite lintel over.  It was very promising, but there was a Radon Gas scare at the time and Keith wouldn't contemplate it once he knew there was granite in the fabric of the house (and probably underneath it too as bedrock).  (The irony of this was unknown to us, there was a similar state of affairs in Wales, but we didn't find this out until we were house-hunting 4 years ago . . .  On the form we filled out when buying this house, there was a disclaimer about it!)

We travelled up to the Lake District too, and viewed a lovely old house in a little hamlet just above Ullswater. There were only 3 or 4 houses there, and they were all cheek-by-jowl.  There was no land, and the garden was small and bisected by a footpath, but it had a lot of character and  we liked it well enough to offer on it.  There was a "sealed bid" situation and we missed it by £10,000 . . .  Another, near Appleby, was in  truly beautiful spot, with views across to the Fells, and a big barn, but it had been modernized beyond belief.  The vendors actually apologized for the one tiny bit of wood left in a wall beneath a window, saying that it was supporting the wall and they couldn't remove it!

We looked all along the Welsh marches too, booking several viewings in a day on our way from Dorset to see Granny C up in Manchester.  One half-timbered cottage just outside Ludlow looked lovely on paper.  We arrived there very late as we had underestimated the time it took to view and travel onwards in unknown territory.  It was TINY.  I think the agent must have written down the room sizes from memory as no way would we have gone to look if we'd known you couldn't even FIT a cat in a room, let alone swing one!    The garden was long and thin and overlooked by half a dozen other properties, so no privacy whatsoever.

Another I can actually remember the name of - it was the Bell House, Wooferton.  It had a lot of charm, but the land was very over-used from ponies and other livestock.  I think we did well to discard it, as looking at the map, it is very close to the A49.

So, we returned back to Dorset despondent.  There was nothing which really ticked the boxes in Devon - well, not in our price range anyway.  There were a few properties in Wales we liked the look of - especially the one in Carmarthenshire.  We made a few phone calls and set off one September day to Wales to view . . . 

The first house was a bit too close to the Welsh Valleys for us.  It was by Llanhilleth, near Pontypool - and below Ebbw Vale.  I didn't know it at the time, but it was close to where my maternal grandfather had been a coal miner before the First World War.  His half-brother ("Uncle Will" to my mum) - his widowed mother had remarried - had moved to Aberbargoed and was a miner, with a wife and two daughters.  

The coal mine on the opposite hillside to the house had closed and was going to be "landscaped" but it still looked bleak enough.  There was a steep and winding driveway to the house, which had once been the Mine Owner's, and it looked like it wouldn't be navigable if it was icy.  

The house was close to a modern bungalow and the land that went with it was the far side of the bungalow and was rank grass and rushes - the sort that you get on acidic peat upland soils.  The fencing was sagging barbed wire.  The view from the field looked across to the steep terraced houses of Llanhilleth, which looked very alien to my Southern English  eyes . . .  Which was a pity as the house inside had great possibilities, with good room sizes, an impressive staircase, and a huge Edwardian greenhouse at the back, though sadly-neglected over the years.

With the bridge across the Severn at our backs, we drove even deeper into Wales, excited at the prospect of the house which had leapt off the page at us, and the prospect of viewing a Welsh long house afterwards.  We had a gut feeling about the first property.  The directions were quite accurate, apart from the distance from the main road to the turning we needed.  We dropped down a little hill and the magic of the river valley took our breath away.  Even though it was raining, the view on the bend looking up the river valley was stunning.  We drove on, past a little mill on the river bank, then across a narrow iron bridge which looked like the Army had built it during the war and never come back from it.  We followed the lane up a steep zig-zag hill and there it was, gleaming white despite the rain as it had just been newly-whitewashed to impress buyers (hum - that was a waste of time!) and with the paintwork in a chocolate brown which had also been used down at the Mill.  There must have been a job lot doing the rounds . . . We never bothered with going on to view the Welsh longhouse - we had found our dream home."




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Back in Builth Wells now, and I actually managed to get out in the garden yesterday and do some tidying up in the main garden.  Enough to fill 3 barrowloads anyway.  Danny went home at teatime, but Tam and Rosie are still here.  I made a big chicken curry for our evening meal, so have two good portions to put in the freezer.  

Tomatoes in the greenhouse are starting to go over now (it's cold at nights already).  I've put the heating on for an hour as I did a load of Rosie-clothes along with my stuff yesterday and it needed to go back home with Tam dry.  It was still quite damp from hanging in the Utility overnight.  Plus Tam and Rosie would have felt cool in the living room - Tam doesn't have the covers above her waist at night, as they co sleep on a mattress on the floor, and although Rosie is in a little baby sleeping bag, it's not that warm.

We had a wander round the charity shops in town yesterday and Tam found some really lovely 3-6 mths baby grows and vests yesterday.  Such pretty prints on them.  They went in the wash straight away.  

I finally got my ear re-pierced this week and he only charged me £10 as it was just a case of piercing through a little bit at the back where it had closed over.  I have a pair of stainless steel studs which I must wear for the next month.  

Yesterday was a day of official phone calls and sorting out pension overpayments.  Fortunately the DWP one can be repaid from Keith's bank account, but I have to cough up on the smaller Army pension overpayment.  Let's hope I have a good Fair.  I've ordered a new folding table - a 6ft one - as people don't seem to pay much attention to anything that is on the floor.  Hopefully that will arrive soon.  Nothing exciting is happening, but I have a friend visiting on Sunday so I will make that Rhubarb and Custard cake as a special treat for us.

Have a good weekend.

17 comments:

  1. Radon! There's a blast from the past I'd forgotten all about. Is it still a thing then?
    No one could accuse you of not being diligent over your house hunting efforts! No good sitting back and waiting, you did the right thing putting in all those miles and it paid off dividends.
    The job lot of paint reminds me of stories I heard how, during WWII, everything locally seemed to be painted Battleship Grey. Nothing to do with local employment at a nearby military base whatsoever, obviously.

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    1. Apparently so. Enough for it to be mentioned on Official Documents anyway. A shame that in the 80s there were such scare stories about it. So much so that Keith refused to move to the West Country.

      Smiling at all that Battleship Grey doing the rounds! SO many of the properties we viewed on line had fallen for the latest Grey Trend. A colour I loathe - it sucks all the light out of a room when you have a gloomy colour. I know my bright colours aren't for everyone but at least they remain cheerful on an overcast winters day.

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  2. And the radon scare all came to nothing. Though our Bath basement was tested and proved positive but obviously we survived. Loved the survey of your house hunting, it is not easy to find the right house, but the house in Wales was beautiful.

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    1. Very true. I can think of so many houses we viewed whilst trying to sell Ynyswen. A couple really stood out, but obviously, weren't meant to be.

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  3. Gosh, Radon a real blast from the past, and something that never comes up these days. Now it's all about flooding risks.

    We viewed one property on our search for the perfect country place that was high up on the Saddleworth Moors. It turned out to be an extension built onto a farmhouse that was basically just one large room sectioned off from the main house. The guy who had bought it off his friend (in the main house) had died leaving all his hoarded things in complete broken disarray. His son who assumed he was allowed to sell it was marketing it for £160,000. The friend in the main house, was trying to claim his property back saying that it had been a gentleman's agreement and he wanted his 'kitchen extension back'. We scarpered pretty quickly from that argument.

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  4. Loving your memories of moving.
    I ought to write a post of "Why we Didn't move to Wales despite looking at lots of houses there"!

    I so agree about Grey in homes - a horrible non colour. I'm going to get rid of my grey living room soon.

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  5. Your description of the house of your dreams brought me a vivid picture of the joy of finding it.

    God bless.

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    1. We were SO excited. It had SUCH potential, but boy, was it in a bad state. Farmers are not known for maintaining old farmhouses . . .

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  6. House hunting is such a nightmare. You must have let out a huge collective sigh of relief when you found 'the one'.

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    1. Indeed, this time we despaired of finding the right house as the ones we liked were on main roads or the back of beyond. We did wonder about ever getting this one because the venders were a bit oddball and only returned the official paperwork at the very last minute - so we had no chance to check any of the matters raised by our Solicitor. We had to just take a leap of faith.

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  7. Ynyswen definitely had your name on it and it will never forget the love and care you bestowed on it. I remember reading about the baked bean tin lids to block the rats! For those of a sensitive disposition look away now, but to me it was simply the Tale of Samuel Whiskers. My children still remember Mike the Flower (a florist to HM the Queen no less) spearing with his fork a baby rabbit on my allotment plot soon after I had taken it on in 2001. Happy to say that was the first and last death on my plot during my watch. Wish my mum was still here so I could ask her more about starting married life in 1956 in a cottage in Ryme Intrinsica near Yeovil with no electricity or mod cons. My dad worked for Southern Electricity Board and his job was to connect rural Somerset to the National Grid. Mum used to cycle to Yeovil hospital where she worked as a nurse (she was one of the first student nurses at the creation of the NHS in 1948 and ended her career teaching nursing at degree level) and back in the mid-50s she was well-equipped for country living as she had been evacuated to Shropshire farming relatives (she was born on Castle Street, Shrewsbury in 1930 but her parents moved to London when she was two) for the duration of the war. Luckily for me she used to come into primary school and give hilarious but educational talks on life as an evacuee. She used to prepare the weekly rations and make beetroot pudding as a surprise. Absolutely nothing phased my mum and I like to think I have inherited a bit of her spirit. When I read your blog BB I see some of her in you. She had a big house, a large productive garden, three children, worked full-time, made all her clothes all her life, and cooked a proper dinner every evening. As you can probably tell I too am full of temps perdu which I think reflects this particular tricky phase of looking after a poorly husband. I took him for a hair cut and clothes and shoe shop in Chichester today as he needed some new clothes for our October holiday to Crete (having lost around 35lbs all his clothes hang off him so I thought we should buzz into Chichester before all the summer stock disappears. Like your K there is absolutely nothing wrong with him mentally, it’s just his body which insists on being slow and stiff. But we went swimming on Wednesday and while I was head down swimming 88 lengths with my fellow Swimfiitters he tells me he swam 30 lengths with his mask and snorkel. Yesterday we had two cubic metres of logs delivered and while I stacked them in the field shelter S filled four wheelbarrows with logs which we unloaded into the cupboard under the stairs. The whole job took less than an hour which I felt was pretty good going. I thank god for my healthy constitution - excepting the left ankle and right knee! It’s now half past 8, the kitchen is closed, and I’m up to bath and bed and a long read. S is going through a bad patch sleep-wise but if I can get a few hours of good sleep before I’m awakened I can just about cope. Sarah x

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    1. Mike the Flower sounds very like Sandra, the school taxi driver we had. She would regularly run down baby bunnies, birds etc on the road - never tried to avoid them, despite the gasps of dismay from her young passengers.

      How I loved hearing about your family. Beetroot Pudding! Count me out on that one! She sounds a bit like my maternal gran, who had an allotment, made clothes for all the children (and presumably herself too), cooked from scratch, baked, made jams, chutneys, wine etc, and I can see where I get those traits from.

      Sorry that S has lost so much weight - and from what you've said before, he wasn't fat to start with. I am envious of your planned holiday in Crete. Gabby is currently holidaying in Skiathos with friends. I hope to get away for a couple of nights after the Antiques Fair - perhaps just up to N. Wales and across to see Bryn Celli Ddu on Anglesey. Will have to see the state of play moneywise, trying to be careful and don't want to touch savings unless absolutely necessary.

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  8. I have really enjoyed reading about your earlier times. I'm curious though. How were you able to range so far house hunting? Did you both have 'portable jobs'?

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    1. I was a stay-at-home-mum, but sold collectables at Car Boot Sales when the children weren't so tiny. I grew perennials and herbs from seed to sell too, and baked cakes to sell by the slice, and made jams and chutneys. Keith had retired from the Army and had his pension from that and he restored antique furniture and we eked out a living that way.

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  9. This has been an interesting read! You certainly did search, and found the "just right" home for then, and also this latest place.

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    1. Ynyswen really "spoke" to us. We were meant to be there (and were there for 32 years). This house didn't speak to us but it had a nice look when we saw the photos. We came here because it was closer to the English border, nearer a town, had good storage in the stable block, and had the right proportion rooms. When you are downsizing it is very hard to find a smaller house but still with good sized rooms. This had them. Plus big windows so lots of light (Ynyswen faced East and was gloomy). Plus VIEWS! It ticked all the boxes, and had a nice feel to it, and was a Horsey Home for me! It was stables one side and a carriage house the other, and we still have the lovely plank and iron bars of one of the stable partitions diving hall from utility.

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  10. I'm now firmly and unapologetically voting for and encouraging the book! (Imagine young Rosie being able to read about how her grandparents came to live in Wales <-- shameless attempt to get you to write :) ) It sound like you and Keith had such a wonderful adventure -- I'm so enjoying hearing about your house-hunting. I'm thoroughly invested! Do keep going...(am off to read the next installment) ~ Melanie xo

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