Monday, 22 September 2008

We're supposed to be excited. At last, after what can only be described as a nightmare purchase fraught with one problem after another, we are so near to completion. Tomorrow Westbroke becomes ours! Trouble is, after all the problems it's hard to be enthusiastic. Perhaps we'll feel better tomorrow.

Why did we stick with it through all the hassle? Simple really. It's in a lovely position, we have views of the sea and the mountains, it has a little low maintenance garden (good job really as neither of us are keen gardeners although we like to see a nice garden), it's close to the harbour and our son and his family. And, once we've put our stamp on it, it will be a really nice house, our forever house as we don't intend moving again.

The building with the three dormer windows, which can be seen from the rear of the house, is "The Bath House", it used to be just that and is now a cafe.


"The Round House" below (which can also be seen from the rear) used to be the local jail, the side you can see was the men's and on the opposite side the women's. It was used to lock up drunks for the night (amongst other things I suppose). It is open for visitors to look into and has a "prisoner" in each of the cells to make it look authentic.


What's it like though? Dated, everything needs renewing. Not a problem though, it will be quite exciting starting from scratch - never done that before. Oh, and a bit of a problem with the loft conversion (bedroom with en-suite) - it's unsound as the previous owner removed the supports for the roof when he built it! Oh well, a suitable reduction in the purchase price will pay for the rebuilding of the loft conversion and the architect and builder are already primed and ready to go.

The rear of the house shows the little garden (a project for next year perhaps!) and the gate on the left is to next door's cottage. From the rear we have lovely views of the sea.



The front of the house has the flat roofed extension and porch. The original cottage is where the stonework goes up to the chimney, all the rendered part shows the extensions which have been added over the years. The low roofed building painted black is the next door cottage. Not the prettiest house we've ever seen but sometimes you have to compromise! (I wonder what the Welsh is for "The Ugly House", maybe we could change it's name!)

While the house is being ripped to pieces and refurbished we'll be staying where we are, renting it back from the new owners for a while. We just have to go out of this back garden and across the lane to reach the front door of Westbroke - perfect!