We purchased ‘Greenstead’ in August 2014. The first thing was to change the name to ‘Faffing Towers’, much to Angs disgust. The house was previously owned by the Uncle of Angs friend Sue .. a chap who sadly died in his 80’s. For years the house and garden were not looked after as the old boy preferred to spend his last days travelling the world.

The property was marketed as development land, the house was barely mentioned as it was unlivable. Floors were rotten, old damp carpets, wall falling away, guttering broken, dangerous electrics. The garden had been neglected for years, nearly half the garden had disappeared into undergrowth, there were trees growing though the greenhouse and most of the paths had been lost to laurels, pine and brambles.

We spend the first month making the house habitable before moving in and the following year maintaining and decorating.

First job in the garden was to rebuild the greenhouse, removing trees, new roof, mend walls, build a big workbench and electrics/water. Over the years we opened up sections of the garden by removing all the overgrowth. We have four garden sections, mostly planted with, er, plants acquired from my mothers, a fruiting section acquired from friends wilko/Loui when they left their allotment, and in ’18 built a pond, again with acquisitions from my mothers and the local woods. Final project was building a workshop and shed.