Yorkshire Pudding's recent blogpost about wood carvings he had seen in a church gave me an idea for this post. My daughter Kay and her husband bought a house near me two years ago. It was in a pretty bad condition as it had been lived in by a little old lady for many many decades and was still in a sort of 1960s time-warp. She had a thing about water and had several ponds (including one in the tiny front garden) and many ugly water containers up the side of the house all linked together to collect rainwater. The house - a small modest end of terrace Victorian house - needs a lot doing to it and is a work in progress. London prices are extortionately steep and it cost well over half a million pounds (more than 4 to 5 times its value elsewhere in the country), so there is not a lot of money to spare to renovate it. I'm helping them where I can. (Incidentally Kay has just read this and thinks it looks like I'm boasting about the house price. I mention it purely because property is so expensive in Greater London compared to elsewhere and it always seems unfair we can barely afford the house and certainly can't afford to furnish it, compared to other parts of the country.) Rewiring, re-plumbing, new windows (there are mushrooms growing in the current ones!), new kitchen and new bathroom are just some of the projects to be done, not to mention re-landscaping the garden as the ponds take up the entire space where maybe lawn should be. Kay and her husband regard this as a ten-year project as their busy jobs also take up any time to do it themselves quickly.
The little old lady was a bit of an artist and we have found hidden under the undergrowth in the garden many metal animals, which she must have crafted, now sadly rusted and only fit for the rubbish dump. However, one thing they are keen to keep are the carvings on the bannisters on their staircase. They are quite unusual and, we think, probably carved by the old lady, but Kay has fallen in love with them.
5 comments:
I vaguely remember the picture you posted of the odd water containers on the side of the house that were very unattractive, but the carvings are just lovely
Yes. I think that last one is Sister Bobtail. Are Kay and Darcy (Chardonnay and Walter) living in the house as it slowly evolves with the required improvements?
Yes those water containers were very ugly. Fortunately the local vicar asked if he could have them for his house, when he saw they were being dismantled.
Unfortunately Kay and Darcy are still living in the house. It is chaotic, but now their recent exams and honeymoon are out of the way, they intend to spend this year getting some plastering/electric work, plumbing and decorating done to make several rooms look less like a bomb site. New windows were put in a few weeks ago, but that is another saga!
What interesting Bannister Carvings. I can't decide whether that is a Rabbit or a Nun either! *LOL*
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