I live in the countryside.. I am lucky to have rolling hills with beautiful green luscious fields around me.. a view most people would take your right hand off for. I am but a ten minute walk from the river. I live next door to this gorgeous thatched cottage, which happens to be over 900 years old. For the past 45 years this property had stood empty. It has no running water, no electricity, not much of anything really. It is a listed building which means the outside of it can not be changed in any way.. it is in fact protected by law, our house has the same criteria only our house is over 400 years old. Whilst the house has remained empty the Duchy of Lancaster have taken care in keeping it looking pretty.. the Duchy of Lancaster are our care takers too so to speak, they also own most of the land around here too. The farmers rent the land, buildings too. In actual fact the one famous person who owns all of the farm buildings and farm houses around here just happens to be the 'Queen of England' yeah she is my land lady. So I live in a very special house, it has many characteristics, wet rot ;) rising damp ;), wooden beams throughout the house, two landings. Sash windows, concrete floors, and in the old days before health and safety.. a fire place in each of the bedrooms. So for 45 years not a soul has lived in the Thatches.. until now. It went under the hammer last week at auction and a property developer put a bid in and now owns this quaint cottage. We haven't seen any one there yet. It will be nice to see what he has planned for it. The doors inside are very low and wide. It has two small bedrooms, earth floors. In the old days the people who lived in thatched cottages had their animals live with them, for safety as to stop thieves but also to keep the house warm.. and you can imagine the smell too!!The house has , like ours, no foundations so when heavy traffic rolls by you can feel the house almost shudder.. some times pictures on the walls move. We have mice in our dry lined rooms, you can hear them scurry about. I think the thatch has rats in the roof.. it may well need a new thatch, that will be very expensive. The asking price for this two up two down ancient plot was £100,000 to £120,000. Like I said we don't know how much the new owner got it for but he's going to have to spend pretty much that again to make it livable. I look forward to the finished product.
