Hazel Tree Cottage has been through a number of incarnations since it was first built, so it's difficult to tell what counts as original features. Probably the only ones we can actually be sure of are the huge inglenook fireplace and these wonky beams in the living room, where a ladder went up to the attic bedrooms. Whilst the newer staircase is considerably less aesthetic, I am devoutly grateful not to be scrambling up here after a few gins!
The single glazed rear windows were rotten to the core. It's never good when you can poke your finger through the frame.
Yes, yes, they look very pretty in the estate agent's pictures, but at some point before we moved in they'd been painted black, the central vent had fallen out and there was a Force 10 gale blowing past the sink.
No sentimentality here, all the old windows were skipped, and shiny new uPVC ones went in. Et voila - heating bill cut by half, all draughts eradicated and the kitchen ceased to feel like the 9th circle of hell.
