Strange & Unusual Houses

[Morganna]

This needs a bit of work, but is reasonably priced, if anyone fancies a do-it-upper.

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/pr ... O1E6F0NVok

[Rebel Pebble]

That's straight out of an episode of Vera. I'd totally expect to find a mummified body under all the junk.

[Morganna]

It's the perfect lockdown project for someone with time on their hands and a keen eye for the possible.

(I'm beginning to think that I could have had a career as an Estate agent ;) )

[smalex]

Just a smidgen of DIY to do there. Totally liveable though

[Derek Nimmo]

This house is intriguing me - well, more specifically the 'secret' garden. Do you spend your whole time throwing back balls into the other back gardens? How come this house got the land rights to such a big plot of (essentially unusable) ground, and it's not divvied up between the terrace? What would you do with 70ft worth of garden that's only accessible via steep stairsand no - as far as I can make out - side access for diggers etc? Questions.

[smalex]

Oh, strange! I did a project for a couple in Bath once that reminds me of that- they had a mid terrace Victorian property. There was a really big swathe of derelict land behind the gardens, which was accessible from a small alley/lane around the corner (or take down their fence and you'd walk right into it). They bought it and we got permission to change it into a 'garden'. It was long and oddly shaped, a bit like that one. People had tried before to get planning permission for a house on it, but failed. The problem was it was so strangely shaped and really overlooked, and they quickly realised it was going to cost them a huge amount of money to clear the site (it was literally piles of rubble and loads and loads of overgrowth, derelict cars etc) and turn it into anything resembling an actual garden. I think they regretted it a bit really. In the end they tried (with someone else who had more experience than me) to get PP on it but failed again. I sometimes wonder what on earth they do with it now. I think I'd have planted it into an orchard or something (but even that would've been a huge investment in trees). I can't imagine it actually increased the value of the house much, it was a bit of a white elephant.

[Derek Nimmo]

I can imagine it being a bit of an albatross - this place looks like it's been left to grow a bit wild, it would be huge fun as a kid I should imagine but just a bit...useless for adults.

[Rebel Pebble]

In terms of how they acquired it, I imagine something similar to what happened in the terraced streets where I used to live.

Most of them (including mine) just had a narrow alley running between the back gardens, which connected with the street at various points for access etc. But a couple of streets had a larger swathe of land in between their respective gardens. Unused, largely a dumping ground, no idea why or what it was for originally.

At some point in the past it was offered (by the council or private individual, not sure) for sale to anyone/everyone who backed onto it as a first refusal thing. Nobody bought and eventually, in the London way, it was developed and has a load of shitty little bungalows crammed in now. But if any one homeowner had bought a parcel of it wider than their garden, you could have ended up with exactly what you're got there.

ETA: Cross-posted with Smal!

[Derek Nimmo]

Interesting - you can see some new builds behind (down the alley) in one of the shots, so maybe whoever lived there at the time did indeed buy up the land in an attempt to stop them encroaching further. Bet it didn't come cheap!

[Rebel Pebble]

Here is the satellite view of the Raynes Park ones:

Screenshot 2021-03-18 10.56.20.png

[smalex]

I've just looked at the Bath people are trying to ram a crap house into it, second time lucky...? About 20 houses and a small development of a flats would be able to see into the garden of it!

[Livilla]

The garden is cool, but I was more struck by their interesting taste in dolls and doll's heads in jars....

[Wiggle]

The garden is cool, but I was more struck by their interesting taste in dolls and doll's heads in jars....

I hadn't noticed and had to go back and look. That's really quite sinister!

[Rebel Pebble]

In the bathroom too! That's just what I want to look at when relaxing in the bath. I also don't like the carve-up job they've done on the front bedroom. Ugh.

That house must have been a shop once, looking at the downstairs frontage.

[indigo]

Oh, that garden is amazing.

[Kenickie]

I went to view a house years ago that had a garden, then an alley way and some garages/ parking for all the houses that backed into it, and then another garden behind that. It was such a strange set up and I can't imagine ever using that bit.

[Morganna]

I love the Bristol garden. Couldn't they make it more accessible with a slope or something instead of the stairs? I can see how getting rid of waste would be difficult though.

I agree about the odd split of the bedroom though, and the dolls are hideous. I wonder who thought that was a good look.

[Derek Nimmo]

The dolls are very Brighton.

There's a row of houses here in the Lanes along a twitten (a pedestrian cut through, less than a lane but more than an alleyway) that don't have their gardens behind them, but opposite on the other side of the twitten. Behind walls / fences and gates, but you can still see through to bits of them as you walk by. So, houses on the right, public thoroughfare in the middle, garden on the left.

I love them for beaking purposes, but would find it incredibly annoying if I lived there.

[smalex]

I saw some houses like that once Ken, they were down towards where WJ lives, old workers cottages or something. You came out the back door, there was about 3m of yard, then a public footpath that seemed to be well used, then a big old garden. There was no boundary between the yards and the paths and the gardens. They were a bit alternative and said there was a nice community vibe about living there but it would've been a hard no from me.

[Kenickie]

Yes, the EA was all like 'isn't this an exciting set up?!' and was just like 'no, it's annoying'. Unsurprisingly the extra bit was quite overgrown as well.