We bought our house just before the first lockdown, having decided to leave London, and after looking at (conservative estimate) around 200 houses. We had a very specific brief: no more than an hour away from West London, walkable train station, edge of village, big enough for large family gatherings (all our relatives live MILES away), big-but-not-too-big garden, nice coffee shop nearby, a good pub nearby (this one didn’t quite work out), good schools…the list was very long. One thing we never discussed was a renovation project. But when we saw a 17C former-inn on the green in Haddenham, Bucks, we fell in love immediately. The location was unbeatable, the interiors less so. It needed SO much work and we had never done it before.

For the whole story, see my blog page. To say it was a long, difficult & expensive process is the understatement of the century. All the cliches were true- it was a money pit, a steep learning curve, a rollercoaster, full of ups and downs etc etc. But, call me a sadist, I loved it!