'I won't miss UK' – Welsh woman renovating £12k abandoned farmhouse

A WELSH woman is renovating the 16th-century French farmhouse her family abandoned 20 years ago and insists she "won't miss the UK".

- FREDDIE NOBLE

Sam Maunder, 34, moved into the 500-year-old cottage, aged four, after her parents bought it for £12,000.

They had grand plans to renovate the home, two cottages and a barn on the land in the beautiful Dordogne.

However, the properties were abandoned in 1998 when Sam's parents, Maggie, 69, and John, 71, divorced, and Sam and her mother moved back to the UK.

The property lay untouched for more than two decades, but Sam decided to return in 2018 to see if she could bring the once-loved family home back into use.

She had to break into the main home, and discovered it was still full of their possessions, but had been taken over by wildlife, was thick with dust, and required a new roof.

Overgrown vegetation meant the properties were totally hidden from the road nearby, but the outbuildings had been emptied and some were just a shell.

In 2019, Sam began the painstaking renovation to bring them back to their former glory a project she admits will cost “thousands” and take another three years.

She is splitting her time between the UK and France, allowing her to do some of the work herself and keep costs down.