A Room With A View... and more Vintage Stock

Well, things have certainly moved on with the house and we thought it was time we shared some photos with you. These are definitely the 'before' photos in case you were wondering!

There has been an awful lot of work going on and despite these scary pictures, we are hoping to move in within a few weeks (honestly!)

Although the open and airy aspect is all the rage these days, we thought we would stick with tradition and re-lay the floor in the bedroom!

We have discovered the house dates to the mid 1600s and we have been busy uncovering its amazing wealth of features. The photos above show just a small amount of the work being carried out in the house; there has also been a flurry of activity in the barn too!

Along with completely re-wiring the house and replacing the plumbing, we also decided to have the many timbers in the house sandblasted. Boy, is that messy! Basically, if you remove the roof of your house and pour in a third of Weymouth beach, that is what the aftermath is like. But the result was worth it and now the many, beautiful oak timbers are soft and mellow, having been stripped of their black paint. We also made an interesting discovery; tucked inside one of the large peg holes in a wall timber was a handwritten 'article of agreement' from 1769 detailing the renting of land between two people, one of whom presumably lived in the house at that time, so we will do some research on the names when we are settled. I love the last line which refers to the signing and reads: 'Here unto we have set our hands this 2nd day of February 1769.' So exciting to have a link to someone who lived there so long ago.


Well, it hasn't all been dust and debris, we have been out and about finding some vintage treasure for the website. Here is a selection of some recent Spring arrivals for the shop, such as the delightful daffodil tray above. There are some gorgeous rosy paintings, Springtime paintings and rosy blankets; plus a rare set of nursery scales; perfect for a very special Springtime arrival! These and more vintage items have been added in recent days and there will be more arriving in the shop in the next day or so. So if you have time, do pop along!






I am off to dream about a clean house filled with beautiful vintage treasures; see you soon, hopefully with less scary house photos next time!

Snowbells and Stone Staircases...

Well, we thought it was time we shared a few photos of our new home with you. This sea of snowdrops (or snowbells, as they are called here in Herefordshire) was just one of the wonderful suprises which welcomed us on the day we completed on our new home. They cover the top part of the garden which is a small and secluded woodland area. We are hopeful that Spring may bring bluebells - we can hardly wait to find out!

We have a lot of work to do at the house and with the builders due to start work in a day or so, Mike has made his own inroad into the renovation work; and made some interesting discoveries. We believe the house dates to the mid 1700s, it is rich with original features including a flagstone floor, a winding stone staircase, wooden floors and doors, heavily timbered walls and wattle and daub (apparently made from chestnut wood, something which was particular to Herefordshire.)


Mike has removed the 50s tiled fireplace in the dining room and revealed large old timbers in the wall which we will make a feature of. Fortunately, the previous owners who had lived there since the 1950s didn't do much in the way of modernising the house so thankfully it has retained a great deal of character - including a stone plinth set into the hall which we understand is a pig salting block! There is a tumbledown stone pigsty in the garden too.

Although it hasn't been modernised, it does lack certain comforts and requires a good deal of TLC to bring out the wonderful old features. One of the first tasks is to install a Rayburn and radiators so we can be nice and cosy! It will take us some time to fully restore the house and outbuildings, indeed it will be a labour of love. But we are looking forward to it and will keep you informed of our trials and tribulations! The hamlet in which we now live is beautiful and very friendly, we are sure we will be perfectly happy here. For the time being, we are dividing our time between Oxfordshire and Herefordshire but as soon as the necessary work is done in the next few weeks, we will move in permanently, along with Dennis our cat! It is business as usual at Vintage Home and in the coming weeks, we shall turn our attentions to updating the website on a regular basis again.

Have a wonderful Valentine's Day and we'll be back soon with more photos!