Kath's Story
This is a tale
of two ruins - one an old but infinitely appealing house of great
character, the other a unique Victorian fernery.
In 1986 when
Ascog Hall came on the market, we could not wait to view this intriguing
place, which could only be tantalisingly glimpsed through a wall
of vegetation. We were, however, totally unprepared for the scene
that met our eyes on entering through the front gate - a forest
of brambles and ivy made the place look as if it had been abandoned
under a spell! Most of the rooms had no floors (and indeed some
had no windows!) these having been removed during the Second World
War.
It was dark,
damp and musty and the roof leaked. Any romantic notions of it being
our dream home were quickly dashed by the realisation that a bottomless
purse would be needed, and that what we could see was probably only
the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Here, the story should have ended
because a "bottomless purse" was something that we did
not possess, but, as is often the case, it is sometimes difficult,
even with the benefit of hindsight, to know why one ventures down
a certain path. Let's just say that we had fallen under its spell
and, against our better judgement, taking a deep breath we plunged
in at the deep end and bought it!
Alas dear reader,
there was no fairy waving a magic wand, or even a handsome prince
to kiss the sleeping beauty awake. But we did finally "get
there", moving in to Ascog Hall in 1992, six years after our
first peep at the ruin that was to eventually become the house of
our dreams.
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