Renovating The Old School House

A Memory of Clyffe Pypard.

This was the year my wife and I took a big gamble.  Looking for a DIY challenge and a move into the countryside from Basingstoke we decided to buy the Old School House in Clyffe Pypard.  The Victorinan house, dating back to 1854, needed total renovation, inside and out, but what potential!  It had a magnificent hall with beatutiful beams, attached to the headmaster's living accommodation - a two up and two down layout (bathroom and toilet outside, of course).  We did not realise at the time what a mammoth task we had taken on and five years later when the 'ruin' had been turned into a great house we were, well, putting it mildly, exhausted, but had a great feeling of satisfaction.
We hired an architect and local builder to work through the main structural work while I struggled with the plumbing and electrics.  It was a real adventure into the unknown, pulling down false ceilings, rebuilding the fireplace in the hall, cleaning the massive old oak doors, installing a minstrel's gallery, knocking out sealed up entrances, replacing the roof, digging out the foundations for a new kitchen, and of course landscaping the garden.  Even after four years I still have a 'to-do' list of five A4 pages!  
We have very fond memories of those times and the people we got to know in the village.  
If anyone is interested in the renovation work we still have many drawings and photos charting our progress through those hectic five years.

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