BRIDGET MARR was standing in the cellar of the big derelict Georgian house that her husband, Charles, was desperate to buy. From there she could see through three rotten floors and roof and out to the sky.

“I had three children under five and I thought, he must be mad,” remembers Bridget. “We were living four miles away and he said I had to make up my mind by the time we got home. So I drove back and I thought: it’s a dream he wants, let’s go for it.” Today Grade II listed Wyton Hall near Hull is on the market, once more the elegant country house it was when built in 1785. A century had passed since it had been a family home when the Marrs bought it in 1990 from a landowner.

“You could just about get up the stairs to the top but I didn’t, it was too scary,” says Bridget, now 46. There was wet rot and dry rot and rubbish, and debris littered the floors. The grounds were waist-deep in grass and weeds. The family rented a small farm cottage as work began. Even Charles Marr, now 47, who used to run the fishing boat business that was part of J. Marr, Hull’s last remaining trawler company, was daunted. “I grew up in a Georgian house and I am a great lover of Georgian buildings. When we bought Wyton I was very excited until we got the quotes for sorting it out. But we were young and just got on with it,” he says.

With the basic work done 18 months later, they moved in. The top floor was still bare brick and it took several more years to fit it out. They bought more land and planted 4,000 trees, restored the driveway and gardens and added a pool. Today, Bridget wonders where she will put all the things they have collected when they move. Their children – Belle, 23, Philip, 22 and Polly, 21 – have flown the nest and the Marrs are looking for a smaller home, Georgian if possible.

They paid £200,000 for the house and budgeted up to £300,000 for restoration. That was, of course, hopelessly off-target. Bridget says: “I haven’t added up what we spent but when we sell I don’t suppose there will be much profit. It has still been worthwhile.”

So how did the Marrs stop the project from becoming a nightmare? First, they say that the dire state of the building meant there were few nasty surprises. Second, they found an architect passionate about Georgian buildings who worked with advisory groups and planners to get the details right. Third, they realised their limitations and did not try to do the work themselves. Finally, they employed local craftsmen wherever possible.

Wyton Hall is for sale at £1.65 million via Carter Jonas in York, 01904 558200 For more photographs of Wyton Hall, go to: timesonline/property Wreck of the week, page 26

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