Ventilation in the basement of a Victorian stone built house.

[daylilies]

I have been having a search on here and have found some old threads that seem to have some knowledgable people on, so:
Looking for some advice on how to ventilate our basement. It is full basement at the front, under the pavement in far end and ground level at the back garden level. Flagstone floor laid to earth. There are 3 'rooms' and a hall. One room (fully basement) has been dry lined in the past and used as a sitting room. We would like to move the kitchen in here. Then into a breakfast room which has a window and eventually a french door to outhouse and garden. Hall leads to back door and another 'room' which we call the cellar which is unplastered. We have been here a year and no mould but a 'damp' smell and feel. Particularly when you open a cupboard. We have removed the painted wallpaper which came off easily. And this has improved the smell. So having done some research it seems that we need to ventilate rather than waterproof.
My question is should we be putting some kind of ventilation fans in? especially if we use the the rooms as a kitchen or utility room?
Thanks

[daylilies]

bumping

[IAmAPaleontologist]

I suggest having a look at the Peter cox website and seeing if they do your area (they are a big company not just a bloke called Peter) damp and ventilation is what they do. They do free surveys. We have had them out to us before and they were very good, very helpful and there was no hard sell at all.

[daylilies]

Thanks I Am I'll have a look.