Next time you think your home is feeling a bit too compact and bijou think about 27-year-old sound engineer Rosie who was living in a van parked up at a West Midlands campsite until applying to BBC's Escape to the Country to help her and partner Phil find a new home in the country.
However, it was by choice that Rosie had, during Covid-19 lockdown, transformed a black van into a cute home called Betty so that she and musician Phil could save hard for their first home together. That meant they then had access to a £400,000 budget for the popular daytime property show to find them a rural idyll.
Having been bitten by the renovation bug doing up Betty, Rosie was now desperate for a bricks and mortar renovation project to call home and Phil was hoping for as much land as possible, to not only grow their own food but to also create a haven for wildlife. The house should have character, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and at least two acres and be within the counties that line the Wales England border, widely known as the Welsh Marches.
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Property one is in Powys, so a big tick for this couple choosing to wander over the border and into the best country in the UK, and it's a house near the village of Kerry. But it's no ordinary house, it's a stunning Grade II listed timber-framed former farmhouse with classic black beamed façade that oozes character plus two acres of woodland. It was on the market on budget at £400,000 and the couple were impressed how much they would be getting for their money.
Into Shropshire and near the village of Newton on the Hill for the couple to have a rummage around what was thought to have once been a chapel that had been converted decades ago but was now empty and needed a complete renovation.
Rosie was absolutely captivated by the character inside, including a cute stained glass window, and was already imagining knocking down walls. Phil loved the quirky shapes of the room and the potential for family and friends to come and stay.
Outside there was only a quarter of an acre of land though, but there were outbuildings. The cost to bag the chapel was £375,000, which went down well with the would-be renovators. This made the building a definite contender with Phil wanting to move in immediately.
Back over the border into Powys for the mystery house, well presenter Sonali Shah called it that but then corrected herself to describe it as a mystery barn, but viewers may have come up with their own version too - mystery wreck. The site near Llanrhaeadr, Powys was mainly a wood framed barn structure but covered in corrugated metal sheeting and looking like a gust of wind would result in some of it taking flight and soaring to the stars.
But it came with five acres of stunning land and planning permission for a five-bedroom house. The couple stare at the structure in front of them in silence. Rosie said: "I'm slightly daunted but enthusiastic, is that OK?". Sonali answered, "Everything is OK, there are no wrong answers here, this is a project on the next level and it's not for everyone."
But, it appears to be for Phil, who said: "I think it's really exciting." But Rosie was not convinced, telling him that maybe he doesn't know how much work it will be.
But as the couple wandered around the building they became enchanted by the exposed beams that stretched up to the roof but even Phil admitted that it was hard to envisage how the space would be divided up and what it would eventually look like.
The asking price of offers in the region of £200,000 would leave the couple with the same amount to do the work and Phil was still hopeful. He said: "This has thrown a huge curved ball, this is the real dream, starting from scratch, but maybe we need to think of practicality over dreams."
So, after much thought, the barn wreck is out of the picture and proves that any house hunter should be careful what they wish for when they say they are up for a complete renovation project - updating electrics, plumbing and knocking down some walls might be their definition of a full renovation but a total wreck might be somebody else's criteria.
But that was not the end of the story for this very likeable pair, as they went for a second viewing at the chapel in England, made an offer, were gazumped, made a higher offer, but sadly lost out and the chapel keys were picked up by somebody else.
But undeterred Rosie and Phil hopped back over the border into Wales and found a two-bed 1960s detached property with 4.8 acres of woodland in Powys, so everyone was a winner - the house that had creative new owners, Wales could welcome a new young couple to the country, and the couple could be very pleased they made our amazing homeland their home too.
This story was featured on Escape to the Country series 24, episode 32, currently available to view on BBC iPlayer. For more property stories sent to your inbox twice a week sign up to the property newsletter here and join the Amazing Welsh Homes property Facebook group here. For the latest TV and showbiz news sign up to our newsletter here.
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