The family has turned the bungalow into a five-bedroom house with five bathrooms, with enough space for their children Sahara, 20, and Raphael, 17, which Elizabeth estimates has cost around £500,000 over the last several decades.
“It’s worth it, this house has made our life possible,” she says.
Charlie Warner, from buying agent Heaton & Partners, says he is increasingly finding that homeowners would rather spend money on maintaining and renovating their existing house than moving to another one, “so it’s fit for purpose for another decade of memories”.
This certainly remains the motivation for Sally Coulthard, 51, and her husband, James Gordon-Finlayson, 50. Sally is a non-fiction author – her latest book is The Secret World of Twilight – and James owns a landscape gardening company.
They have lived in their home between the villages of Stonegrave and Oswaldkirk in north Yorkshire for two decades.
When they first saw their Georgian property, surrounded by 12 acres of land, it was a derelict pig farm.
Over the years they have restored it to provide a solid base for their three daughters, 21-year-old Madeleine, Isabella, 16, and Emma, 13.
“The whole lot was for sale, looking very unloved,” Sally recalls. “It was a bit of a wreck but it ticked all our boxes.
“Somewhere to do up and grow into, James needed a place to run his business from, I was passionate about the countryside and we wanted somewhere with a bit of land, peace and quiet.”
