The work took AN ENTIRE YEAR!

By filling weekends and evenings with DIY, Hannah and Matt have been able to do the brunt of the renovation work themselves

- STEPHANIE SMITH, MICHELA COLLING

After completely refurbishing our two-bedroom Victorian cottage a few miles away, we realised we needed more space and a bigger garden,’ says Hannah. ‘We wanted to stay local, so we started looking around, but soon realised that we were going to have to go for a doer-upper if we wanted to stay within our budget.

We had a couple of disappointments where the chain fell through at the last minute, which was frustrating, but then we found this house. We knew we could do something with it. It had the space and capacity to extend it in years to come – a big bonus – and the garden was huge. Plus, we could change the garden at the front to provide off-street parking. The interior was dated and in need of work, but we could see past that. Luckily, our offer was accepted and went through.

Making plans