Appraise this house please

[wholelottahistory]

search.savills.com/property-detail/gbsvrsses190496

Totally love it and think I could put a good stamp on it. But the kitchen cant really become very open plan.
Its relatively cheap for this area....am I missing something else?

Why would you want to put an open plan kitchen in such a beautiful original room? Surely it's much easier to find something more modern you can customise without having to satisfy the planning department every time you pass wind outside the bathroom?

It’s gorgeous but the roof looks pretty bad to me. Or at least old?

It is lovely but I can see it being a bit of a money pit.

One of those houses that needs a lot of money to get it in a good condition and then a lot more to keep it in that condition.

Beautiful house but yes, I also wonder why the photos only show 4 rooms.

Has to be worth a viewing though?

I love it, but yes to the ghosties.

I couldn't find the room layout.
The fields are lovely. The old room with the ceiling beautiful. But it's so ugly, with one old gamekeepers cottage type to start with, then 4 more buildings add on, which are so ugly and not streamlined/ don't seem to make sense.
So you'd have to pull down all the 4 add ons and build again, to make the original building into a house you could actually live in?

Sounds costly.

It just seems cold and a lot of upkeep to me. Plus having to drive everywhere.

I think there are aspects which are lovely & there are some bits which would have me running a mile. So great outside space if you want that but no easy access from inside. It really does look like it's a do er upper but if listed - then be careful what you wish for. I think ( whilst it may be cheap for the area ) it's one of those houses people could fall immediately in love with and then spend the next n number of years thinking - this doesn't actually work - Christmas comes but once a year - and then you have to find someone else who is willing to buy into the same thing. Personally , I would look very carefully at what else you could get for your obviously very sizeable budget. BUT - your choice and I hope you are happy wherever you land up

The photo of the tennis court / field makes the land look huge, but the plot boundary runs just beyond the edge of the tennis court - doesn’t appear to be fenced? Is the land currently rented out?

Next door is pretty close and operates an SC guest house.

www.ockhamsfarm.com/

How long is the shared drive? How are maintenance costs split?

Picture 4 shows there have been ''unmatched'' extensions to the house at various times - at least 2 - that would put me off. I think it has a good layout for house of that age, lovely site, apparently. Investigate neighbours. I see from rightmove that is a reduced price. You could try low offer as the £995,000 is a much weaker asking price than £1,000,000 IMHO.

I think you need another £600k to renovate. If the photos look like that then on viewing it will look at a lot more tired.

I absolutely love it and you should definitely go and view. I can see one socket in one of the photos and judging by the height from the floor the wiring is more recent than you might guess.

It will be a money pit. I wouldn’t like to guess a price as I haven’t done anything of that age and size before, but I think there are some wild overestimates here. I’ve renovated 4 places now and anyone spending £150k to renovate a 3 bed semi is either having a two floor extension or going mad with £50k kitchen fittings.

It’s not a doer upper. This is what one of those looks like.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-69179220.html

Some of the refurbishment costs being bandied about here are insane. For £5/600k, you could raze it to the ground and rebuild it. It obviously needs work but, from the pictures, not as much as some people think.

If you want modern living, like a huge kitchen diner and bifold doors, a listed house isn’t for you. We love the quirks of ours - the uneven floors, the windows at a squint, the odd little nooks and crannies. Very old houses don’t lend themselves to perfect finishes and strenuously fight back when you try to impose the wrong thing on them.

Go and have a look, OP, but don’t try to turn it into something it’s not. If you want to do anything more than sympathetically update it, leave it for someone who’ll love it as it is.

That's so charming, @Alsohuman. Definitely a doer-upper.

I know. I’d always be up for a blank canvas and lots of work in the right house but that’s too much even for me. Just looking at the pictures makes me feel depressed!

It's gorgeous but how is it heated?

It looks high maintenance.

Listing info is here:

historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1336402

Restored by Baillie Scott in 1920/21, and he lived there until 1942.

And another listing for it with different photos (but still no bathroom pics):

www.maisonpartnership.com/kent/shernden-lane

Rightmove is showing it as SSTC.

It's a bit pokey 😉

Yes. I'm jealous.

It's gorgeous but will be a money pit. Rewiring, replumbing, roofing, bats, damp etc (I speak from experience!). If you have £100K+ to spend on top of that budget, why not also look at something like this in the same area. Has charm, good layout and permission to extend further. Granted it's not the same age or listed, but it's lovely. Hever Lane, Hever, Edenbridge, Kent, TN8
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-83479751.html

@BridgetJonesDaiquiri I had seen that one too. Could be nice but I am a stickler for south facing .....

I think original property is sold etc as you say

South facing gets hot.

I am very fond of my north facing back garden - sunny at the far end, but stays cool by the patio doors. I have a south facing balcony at the front which gets scorchio.

I think it looks lovely - I love the kitchen. I hate it when lovely old houses have shiny modern kitchens in them

Ooh I LOVE the one Bridgetjonesdaiquiri came up with. Character but not listed, can extend if you want, love the light, beams and space.
Really nice property porn there!