We knew we were taking on a lot when we bought this house. Having viewed the property, we fell in love with the character. Still, we could see many areas that needed visible modernisation (the fuse boards, the lighting, the electrics in general!), and that was without the bits that we couldn't see!
The structural surveys on the house were all sound, but there was some evidence of areas of mild dampness that we would need to address. In addition, the house has an old disused "Byre" attached to it. Byre is another term for a cowshed, and the one attached to the house is large and traditionally stone built. This was the crux of many issues regarding securing funding to buy the property, as structural calculations showed that the byre was unsound. With it being intimately attached to the house, there were significant concerns that any structural collapse of the byre would directly affect the main farmhouse. Needless to say, this made the mortgage lenders (and us) a little twitchy.
While getting surveys undertaken on the structural integrity of the byre, we found that it really does pay multiple viewpoints. Especially when you know the property is "the one." That's not to say house purchasing should be purely from the heart. Still, so long as you go into a purchase well-informed, there are sometimes ways to make even the impossible workable. If you're interested in this process, read more about that here.
In addition to the electrics on the main property and remedial work we needed to undertake on the byre to keep ourselves (and our bank happy), we also had the significant tasks of fencing the land to make it "horse-proof"*, tiding up the old stable block (again to keep the horses safe and happy) and the usual unpacking of boxes, settling in, tidying, cleaning. The first few weeks, we found ourselves feeling largely overwhelmed; my husband especially was a little worried that maybe we had bitten off more than we could chew - especially with a 3-year-old small human in tow!
We've slowly chipped away at those initial tasks. While our list is ever-expanding, the mindset that we have forever to get things done (aside from the inevitable emergency repairs that crop up!) has allowed us to take stock of just how exciting and rewarding this journey will be.
*We quickly discovered that the fencing, while containing Jake, the horse, was insufficient to keep out the neighbouring sheep. For a period of around a week, we found ourselves the passive keepers of a small flock of sheep who forcibly were making their way from our neighbours land onto ours daily, only to be rounded up by their associated farmer and taken home (the ungrazed land proved a little too tempting for them I suspect!). A great way to meet the neighbours nonetheless!