Another level

The sheer amount of work Rebecca Bethell took on to bring this Edwardian home back from the brink is impressive

- WORDS JANE CRITTENDEN

Rebecca Bethell believes the worst house makes the best project so she was delighted to come across an Edwardian semi that had been empty for a couple of years. The large square rooms, high ceilings and location close to school for sons, Max, 17, and Felix, 15, ticked all the boxes. However, the first viewing revealed the property's true condition.

'Seventeen people had lived here in nine bedsits, there were holes in the walls and floors and I could see straight up to the roof,' recalls Rebecca. 'When I looked around I had to cover my nose, but I wasn't put off by the horrors,' she explains. 'I welcomed them – I absolutely love a ruin.'