Blame Griff Rhys Jones and the success of his tele-vision series Restoration,
spiralling house prices or plain homeowner greed, but the British appetite
for wrecks, ruins and dilapidated shacks of all shapes and sizes knows no
bounds, even though they are becoming increasingly rare and expensive. So,
how can you bag a bargain ripe for restoration, other than by endlessly
trawling estate-agency windows or hunting them down on foot?
Enter the architectural conservation charity Save, which next week publishes
its annual catalogue of what it deems the 100 most interesting period
buildings in danger of being lost. Called Opportunity Knocks, it features
derelict, vandalised and forgotten castles, cottages, barns and breweries;
some are Grade II-listed, while others have no listing at all. The Sunday
Times has been given an exclusive look.
Only about one in 10 of the properties, drawn from Save’s broader, 750-strong
Buildings at Risk register, is for sale in the conventional manner through
estate agents. One of these is a Victorian former Methodist chapel in
Alston, Cumbria, England’s highest hilltop town, 1,000ft above sea level. It
is for sale for £500,000 through Pennine Ways, 01434 381808, www.
countrycottages.net). Another is an old railway station building in
Frodsham, Cheshire, which is available on a 50-year lease for a nominal rent
(Spacia, 0161 838 1236).
In most cases, however, the register gives only contact details for a council
conservation officer or other local official involved with the buildings.
They should then help to liaise with the owner, but it can be a complicated
process — the reason some buildings have not been sold is that nobody knows
who owns them.
Take Thorington Lodge, a Grade II-listed Georgian property near Saxmundham, in
Suffolk, that could be converted into a charming three-bedroom house. Save
says that the owners are prepared to sell, but a price has yet to be fixed
and no agent has been appointed. Adrian Craddock, the council conservation
officer, has more details (01394 444474). Craddock also knows of a
picturesque 17th-century timber-frame farmhouse in Peasenhall, near
Framlingham, available to buy on a very long lease.
Sandra Jones, a conservation officer for Powys council, meanwhile, is looking
for a new owner for a 17th-century farmhouse at Moydog, near Welsh-pool. The
interior has a large gable fireplace with an iron range and side oven, while
the rooms have a mass of original wood features, including chamfered spine
beams and timber-frame partitioning. The property, says Jones, “ticks all
the right boxes” when it comes to Welsh rural idyll. The only problem is
that it will take a little research to work out who owns it. Interested?
Contact Jones on 01938 551000.
Other highlights on the list include an overgrown lodge in Yorkshire and a row
of Georgian terraces in Liverpool, also in need of rescuing.
David Plaisant, buildings-at-risk officer for Save, says that inquiries have
doubled over the past five years. “Everyone is looking for a hidden
treasure,” he says. “Anyone who travels round Britain knows there are many
beautiful buildings empty and decaying that could be given a new lease of
life.
“We now get 20 or 30 calls a week looking for more information on the
properties that are featured on the register, and 500-1,000 hits on the
website every day. We want to show people the first step, and want to
persuade owners to offer the buildings for sale on reasonable terms.”
Plaisant says that the calls are not just from architecture enthusiasts out to
save our rich heritage. Increasingly, the motivation behind many of the
restorations is the British housebuying public’s apparently insatiable
appetite for making money out of property. But he warns that none on offer
are a “splash, dash and cash” option.
Steve Crockwell, 55, can confirm that. When he visited the Cambridgeshire
village of Yax-ley five years ago, he spotted a tumbledown, decaying
cottage, covered with a tarpaulin, on the way to the pub. He asked the
landlord, who called over the owner. Crockwell struck a deal on the spot to
buy it for £122,000.
Today, he and his girlfriend, Jane Maxwell, 53, live in the immaculately
restored three-bedroom property, which was valued last year at £320,000. But
it was hard work, even though Crockwell, a developer who specialises in
listed buildings, knew what he was doing. He spent about £80,000 and 20
months stripping paint and wall-paper and restoring the cottage to its
original glory, even importing the right reed thatch from Poland to redo the
roof.
What advice does Crockwell have for anyone wanting to tackle a restoration
project? “You should expect trouble,” he says. “And it can be expensive.
Then again, you’ll have gained the house you want.”
The Opportunity Knocks catalogue is available for £12 (members £10) from Save
Britain’s Heritage, 020 7253 3500, www.savebritainsheritage.org
