WINTER'S TALE

Believing they could complete one final house renovation, Amanda and Niall set up home in their favourite village for their first listed project

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This may be their fifth project but renovation was not something Amanda and Niall really set out to do. 'It was the only way we could afford to buy and a couple of times we've taken the children and moved back in with my parents, working on a house at weekends and in evenings, Amanda explains.

Their previous home was an adored bungalow that had been updated in New Hampshire style but they found themselves with itchy feet. We were both in our early forties and thinking "we could do one more" when this place popped up in a village we already loved.' The area had always been beyond the couple's reach financially and this 15th-century Grade II listed cottage was no exception, but when it was finally reduced after languishing on the market, they had to take a look.