The Garden Cottage – Part 1

It may surprise you to know that one of the biggest projects we’ve undertaken at Bardmony isn’t even in the house we actually live in – but rather in the small cottage that sits within our grounds.

This charming cottage, nestled in the north east corner of the walled garden, is called Bardmony Garden Cottage and has been used as the residence for the property caretakers over the years.

You can just see the roof of the cottage in the upper corner of the walled garden in this aerial shot.

It has quite an unusual shape and pitched roof, and while it does benefit from an extension added in 1980, it is still rather compact. We’ve been told it was originally the pump house for the big house back in the days before mains water.

The left of the cottage is the original part, probably at least Victorian in age but maybe older – and the right is the 1980 extension with some slightly unfortunate stippling work 😬
Note that the property is a bit squiff – and is only about 875 square feet inside!

When we first viewed the property, the then caretakers (a wonderful couple called Allan and Avril, who have since become our friends) were still in residence and had done a lovely job of making the property feel homely and cosy.

However, we didn’t spend a lot of time in the cottage during our viewing, as most of our attention went towards the big house, and when we took possession of the property, now with the cottage emptied, we were able to see how tired the general condition of the cottage had become.

The kitchen, missing a few cabinet doors.
A sturdy but ever-so-yellow bathroom suite
The sitting room in need of a general freshening up

That said, we had no immediate plans for the cottage and had bigger theoretical fish to fry, so we added this to our to do list and mentally set it aside until some future time when we would have more capacity.

Until, as is often the way, in February 2021, chance chose a different path for us and a burst pipe pushed this straight to the top of the to do list! πŸ˜…

But, it’s Tuesday morning and I’ve got to get to work – so you’ll have to wait for the next installment to see the carnage caused by that pipe! 😹 Have a great week, everyone. πŸ’™

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